
Breadcrumbs
Repeat offenders: coal power plants top the EU emitters list
The ten largest emitters in the EU's Emissions Trading System are all coal power plants, with Germany and Poland dominating the list.
Highlights
25%
Top 10 emitters responsible for almost a quarter of all power sector emissions
2/3
Germany and Poland responsible for two thirds of EU coal power emissions
6
RWE, PGE & EPH top utility emissions for six consecutive years
About
This report analyses 2022 emissions data from the EU’s Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS), released in April 2023, focusing on the power sector.
The EU-ETS sets a market price for carbon across Europe and covers aviation, electricity and heat generation, and energy-intensive industries such as steel, cement and oil refineries. The EU-ETS covers the EU-27, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. As part of the trading system, emissions data is published yearly for all installations.
Ember’s data tool provides more information on power plant emissions in the EU-ETS.
Executive summary
Few repeat offenders dominate Europe’s power sector emissions
Dirtiest emitters of 2022 are a familiar list of coal plants
Prof. Dr. Pao-Yu Oei Europa-Universität Flensburg
Unfortunately, these figures confirm the picture of recent years: Just a few lignite-fired power plants dominate the list of top emitters in Europe. Yet the European trend shows that renewable energies are the best way out of the energy crisis. The coal power plants operated by Czech investor EPH in the East of Germany are still among Europe's biggest climate polluters. The Paris Agreement needs to see this change quickly. Our analysis confirms: A governed phase-out of lignite mining in Lusatia remains a big climate priority.
2022 EU-ETS emissions
Europe’s power sector emissions held in hands of few
Top 10 largest emitters in Europe’s emission trading scheme all coal power plants for second year running
Conclusion
Coal emissions rise but long term trend remains one of decline
Uptick in coal power emissions temporary and limited detour on Europe’s journey towards a clean power system
Europe’s power system faced an unprecedented year in 2022. A combination of factors, including sky-high gas prices, low nuclear and hydro output and an urgent need to get off Russian gas conspired to create a temporary increase in Europe’s coal emissions. Evidence shows this increase will be limited, both in size and duration, with coal power generation already starting to fall year-on-year from the end of 2022, a trend which is continuing into 2023.
The energy crisis has laid bare the risk of continued reliance on fossil fuels and many countries are responding by raising renewables ambition. However, certain governments are using the crisis to shoe-horn in disproportionate emergency fossil fuel measures, which in most cases are not needed to meet demand. Total emissions in the power sector are held in the hands of a limited few repeat offenders, placing a duty on these countries or utilities to address the sources of their emissions responsibly. In order to provide secure, affordable and clean energy for their customers or citizens, they must begin enacting policies and transition plans that shift rapidly towards a renewables-based energy system.
Supporting Material
Methodology
Missing Installations
Some installations had not yet reported emissions when the data was downloaded on 1st May 2023. These installations accounted for roughly 9 Mt CO2e, less than 1 % of emissions in 2021. For these installations, emissions for 2022 were estimated provided their account status was ‘open’, they were not excluded from the ETS and they reported in 2021. To calculate their estimated emissions, a percentage change from 2021 was applied according to the sector the installation belongs to.
From 2021 onwards, the UK no longer reported emissions as part of the EU-ETS. This report looks exclusively at EU-27, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Iceland emissions, however, previous Ember analysis of the EU-ETS is based on EU-ETS + UK data and may therefore appear different to the results presented here.
Multiple Keys
Some installations are recorded under multiple keys in the EU-ETS data and must be added together to calculate their total emissions. For example, Boxberg power plant is split under DE 1453 and DE 1454.
Power Sector Definition
The EUETS power sector records include combined heat and power plants along with power only. In this analysis, power sector is taken to include combined heat and power installations alongside power only installations.
Biomass and some waste generation is not included.
Fuel Categories
Mappings for installation fuel types have been taken from previous Ember analysis and the ETC/CME Dataset 1/2021.
Peat, non municipal waste, oil and blast furnace gases were all mapped to other unless clearly stated separately. In addition the primary fuel for many very small installations could not be researched. These are also mapped to other, but are most likely small oil and gas plants, or oil and gas cofired in biomass plants.
Correction
The chart titled ‘3 utilities outweigh others in EU power sector emissions’ was corrected on 12/6/23. The previous version showed the incorrect largest fuel of CEZ, Uniper, EDF, Vattenfall, BEH, ENI, EnBW, ArcelorMittal, Thyssenkrupp, Großkraftwerk Mannheim, Eesti Energia and PGNiG.
Acknowledgements
Reynaldo Dizon, Hannah Broadbent
Cover imageLignite-fired power plant in Niederaussem, Germany.
Credit: Markue