What progress is being made towards reducing emissions from large combustion plants in the European Union?

Key messages

(03 Dec 2019)

Large combustion plants are responsible for a significant proportion of anthropogenic pollutant emissions.

Since 2004, emissions from large combustion plants in the 28 EU Member States have decreased, by 86 % for sulphur dioxide, 59 % for nitrogen oxides and 84 % for dust.

In 2017, from a total of 3 664 large combustion plants, 50 % of all emissions came from just 68, 141 and 58 plants for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and dust, respectively. However, the performances of these largest plants have improved greatly over time.

One indicator of the environmental performance of large combustion plants is the ratio between emissions and fuel consumption (i.e. the implied emission factor). The implied emission factors for all three pollutants decreased significantly between 2004 and 2017 for all sizes of large combustion plants.

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