Coal-fired power plants in Ukraine, the Western Balkans, Turkey, Poland and Germany are among the main contributors to air pollution in Europe, according to a study developed by climate and energy think tank Ember. The study concludes that countries subsidizing coal -fired power plants should channel the incentives into their abundant renewable energy potential, which would replace coal power easily. With pollutants sometimes traveling thousands of kilometers, air pollution from coal power is a problem for the whole of Europe no matter the source.
Pollutants, including particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) can be found in the energy, manufacturing, transportation and agriculture sectors, which are released into the atmosphere.
The analysis covering 27 EU countries, the United Kingdom, Turkey and Energy Community countries, shows that the majority of particulate pollution from coal power generation originates from plants in Ukraine where there are eight out of the top ten most polluting plants for PM10.
A breakdown of NOx pollution highlights Poland and Germany as being the top polluters in the EU. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions from the top ten plants account for 44% of the total SO2 emissions from coal power in Europe. The top ten rankings for SO2 consist of three coal plants in Turkey and three in Serbia, two in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and one each in Ukraine and North Macedonia. Almost all of the dirty coal plants in the top thirty are older than 30 years.
