Europe’s most polluting power plants

Agios Dimitrios Power Plant in Greece is one out of two plants that is present on all three lists. Photo: g7ahn / Creative Commons

Eight of the twelve largest single sources of carbon dioxide in Europe are found in Germany.

The European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) has been updated with information on releases and transfers from industrial installations in 2010.

For carbon dioxide the list is more or less identical to the one for 2009, with only some minor changes in rank order and emission levels. Germany continues to dominate the emission league with eight lignite-fuelled plants on the top twelve list. But the individual plant that emits the most carbon dioxide in the whole of Europe is still Belchatów in Poland.

The greatest changes are seen for sulphur emissions, where total emissions from the ten most polluting plants in 2010 were 30 per cent less than the twelve most polluting plants in 2009. Almost all of the top polluters are to be found in the southeastern part of Europe. Maritsa 2 in Bulgaria is still the biggest sulphur polluter, but its 2010 emissions are now only a third of the level in 2007.

Power plants with high emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) are more scattered across the continent, although with Poland and the UK each having three facilities on the list. In comparison with the twelve most polluting plants in 2009, NOx emissions have dropped by almost 20 per cent in 2010.

These reductions in sulphur and NOx are primarily a result of the large combustion plants (LCP) directive from 2001, forcing more and more power plants to install emission abatement technology.

The E-PRTR is a service managed by the European Commission and the European Environment Agency (EEA). The online register contains information on emissions of pollutants released into the air, water and land by industrial facilities throughout Europe (32 countries: EU27, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Serbia) and includes annual data for 91 substances released from nearly 30, 000 facilities. The first data set is from 2007 and it has now been updated for the fourth time.

Kajsa Lindqvist

The European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register is found at http://prtr.ec.europa.eu/

In this issue

Editorial: Still a long way to go

In early May, after five years of negotiation, countries in Europe and North America agreed to take on new emission reduction commitments for the major air pollutants, by adopting a revised Gothenburg Protocol to the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution ..

Health effects of black carbon

Reducing people’s exposure to PM_2.5 containing black carbon should lead to a reduction in the health effects associated with PM.

Air pollution from traffic kills 5000 a year in UK

Premature deaths due to PM_2.5 are estimated to cost the UK between €7.5-77 billion every year, corresponding to 0.4-3.5 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product.

Ozone levels still much too high

In the summer of 2011, the threshold for protecting human health from ozone was exceeded on more than 25 days in a significant part of Europe.

Europe’s most polluting power plants

Eight of the twelve largest single sources of carbon dioxide in Europe are found in Germany.

The arrival of a new EU sulphur law

The sulphur content of ship fuels will be cut to 0.1% from 2015 in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, and to 0.5% from 2020 in other EU waters. As a result, emissions of sulphur dioxide from shipping in Europe will come down by more than 80 per cent.

Welcome to the golden age of fracking

Fracking, exploitation of gas from shale, is growing fast. This is game-changing both for energy policy and climate policy. There is now more, and dirtier fossil gas around. The resistance is also growing, and fracking is banned in some countries.

Biggest environmental cause of mortality

A new OECD report says that by 2050 air pollution will become the biggest cause of premature death, killing an estimated 3.6 million people a year.

New Danish energy agreement

A massive expansion of wind power, reforms to promote biomass and an expansion of mandatory energy savings are the main features of the Danish energy agreement. The measures combined are estimated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 34 per cent by 2020.

Improvements from the revison

Emission cuts under the new Gothenburg Protocol are expected to reduce health damage in Europe from PM_2.5 and ozone by 27 and 11 per cent, respectively, between 2000 and 2020.

New Gothenburg Protocol adopted

Between 2005 and 2020 the EU member states must jointly cut their emissions of sulphur dioxide by 59%, nitrogen oxides by 42%, ammonia by 6%, volatile organic compounds by 28% and particles by 22%.

Main menu

Europe’s most polluting power plants

In this issue

Editorial: Still a long way to go

Health effects of black carbon

Air pollution from traffic kills 5000 a year in UK

Ozone levels still much too high

Europe’s most polluting power plants

The arrival of a new EU sulphur law

Welcome to the golden age of fracking

Biggest environmental cause of mortality

New Danish energy agreement

Improvements from the revison

New Gothenburg Protocol adopted

Publications

Food for Thought

Northern forests, climate change and the UNFCCC

EU climate targets aligned with the Paris agreement’s 1.5°C objective

Baltic Sea Offshore Wind Collaborative-Learning project

Air pollution in Europe and children’s health

Climate Change: A Himalayan Odessey

No further discussion needed. The agreed global goal is to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C

Fossil-free electricity 2021

What we do

Air pollution

Climate Change

Policy initiatives

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