Repeat offenders: coal power plants top the EU emitters list

In total, the top 10 emitters in the 2022 EU-ETS released 175 Mt CO2e into the atmosphere in 2022, accounting for almost one quarter of power sector emissions in the EU-ETS. To put this in perspective, this is more CO2e than the power sectors of Spain, Italy and Czechia combined. As was the case last year, the largest 10 emitters were all lignite or hard coal plants, with PGE’s Bełchatów in Poland topping the list as it has done since the scheme began in 2005. It is not alone in its repeat offending – six others have also been amongst the top 10 power plants every year for the last decade. 

The plants are spread over just three countries – six in Germany, three in Poland and one in Bulgaria. The Bulgarian plant Maritsa East 2 rejoined the top 10 for the first time since 2019 with the largest year-on-year emissions increase of 60%, equivalent to an extra 4 million tonnes of CO2e. The only other new entry came from the Polish plant Turów, where an additional unit added mid-way through 2021 pushed up emissions. 

More information on power plant emissions in the EU-ETS is available in the data tools section.

Coal power emissions in the EU-ETS were 6% higher in 2022 than in 2021, but remained lower than 2019 levels.

As the energy crisis continued and fossil gas prices reached unprecedented highs in 2022, Europe was faced with a twin crisis of unexpected nuclear outages and a 1-in-500 year drought causing hydro output to plummet. The impact of this was a rise in fossil fuel generation, leading many to fear a ‘coal comeback’ in Europe. However, this did not materialise and in fact coal generation fell year-on-year in the last four months of 2022, a trend which is continuing into 2023. 

Due to an increase in coal generation in the first half of 2022, total coal generation in the EU was up by 7% in 2022 compared to 2021. This is reflected in a 6% rise in coal plant emissions in the EU-ETS. Despite this uptick, coal plant emissions in 2022 remained lower than 2019, and the increase was significantly lower than the 17% jump in 2021 when the majority of gas-to-coal switching occurred. The long term trend of coal power emissions remains one of decline, with values in 2022 40% lower than a decade ago. Going forwards, coal generation is expected to decrease in 2023. 

In 2022, after years of over-reliance on fossil gas, Europe was forced to bring in temporary emergency measures to ensure energy security. These included lifting coal capacity limits, allowing some coal units to return to operation or extending their lifetimes beyond scheduled shutdown dates. A study on the potential impact of Europe’s temporary return to coal estimated an additional 30 Mt CO2e a year from these emergency measures. In reality, the 6% increase in coal emissions released an extra 24 Mt CO2e compared to 2021. This is significantly less than this estimate, especially given it includes all coal plants from the EU-ETS, not just those covered by emergency measures.

With countries desperately trying to reduce gas consumption, nuclear and hydro issues across Europes’ power sector left countries with little room to manoeuvre, and gas power generation remained unchanged in 2022. Similarly, gas power sector emissions remained the same as 2021 in spite of the escalating gas costs that Europe faced throughout 2022. 

When it comes to power sector emissions by country, the obvious culprits are those still burning coal. Germany and Poland are consistently responsible for around half the total EU power sector emissions, reaching their highest share of 53% in 2022. Coal features heavily in their emission mix – accounting for 78% and 87% respectively. 

Coal power emissions are highly concentrated within a small number of countries in the EU-ETS. In 2022, Poland and Germany were responsible for two thirds of coal power emissions, add in Czechia and Bulgaria and this jumps to 80%. 

However, in the last decade, German power sector emissions have dropped by one third as they reduced coal emissions by 100 Mt CO2e (-37%) compared to 2013, whilst Poland has cut coal power sector emissions by only 12%. In fact, Poland’s share of EU-ETS coal power emissions has increased, jumping from 19% in 2013, to 28% in 2022. Germany’s share of coal emissions has remained stable at 40%.

Fossil gas was responsible for around one quarter of power sector emissions in 2022, with Germany, Italy and Spain accounting for 60% of this.