In response to Russia’s aggression and soaring fossil prices, most EU Member States have announced significant increases in renewables deployment, while scaling down plans for fossil fuels. Russia’s aggression and corresponding volatility in global electricity prices has underlined the need to phase out fossil fuels and accelerate decarbonization. The electricity transition is not solely an […]
Europe
False fix: the hidden health impacts
of Europe’s fossil gas dependency
First of its kind analysis on the health harm of burning fossil gas shows that in 2019 alone, burning fossil gas for power (and heat) generation caused over 2,800 premature deaths from air pollution (from PM2.5, NO2 and ozone) in the EU-27 and the UK. The price tag for this reliance on fossil gas is […]
Financing Putin’s war on Europe: Fossil fuel imports from Russia in the first two months of the invasion
Corrected version: we detected errors in our data on pipeline gas imports into the EU; these have been corrected. We have also improved the allocation of gas imports by country (more details on the updates here and corrections there). Fossil fuel exports are a key enabler of Russia’s military buildup and brutal aggression against Ukraine. […]
EUROPE – RIPE FOR CLOSURE: Accelerating the energy transition and saving money by reducing excess fossil fuel capacity
Estimating excess operating fossil fuel-fired electricity capacity in 9 European countries.
Health Impacts of Coal Power Plant Emissions in Ukraine
Ukraine is home to some of the most highly emitting coal power plants in Europe and in the world. Coal-fired power plants in Ukraine are responsible for 80% of the total emissions of sulfur dioxide in Ukraine and 25% of nitrogen oxides, while there are essentially no emissions controls for sulfur and nitrogen oxides at […]
Comply or Close – How Western Balkan coal plants breach air pollution laws and cause deaths and what governments must do about it
For the past three years, new air pollution standards should have brought reductions in harmful emissions from coal plants across the Western Balkans. But in 2020, sulphur dioxide emissions from coal power plants across the region still flagrantly breached these legal limits. In 2018 and 2019, coal plants that were included in the National Emissions […]
Projecting the health impacts of alternative phase-out timelines for the Šoštanj power plant
The Šoštanj lignite power plant is ranked the most polluting industrial facility in Slovenia by the European Environment Agency. Air pollutant emissions from the plant expose a large number of people to PM2.5, NO2 and mercury pollution. If the plant operates until 2042, we project approximately 1,100 deaths due to air pollutants and mercury exposure from […]
Pollution from coal power costs Turkey as much as 27% of its total health expenditure – new report
Turkey is pushing ahead with plans to double its coal power capacity with 30 new coal power stations despite major health impacts and costs linked to the country’s existing coal fleet. A new analysis by the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) finds that the health impacts of coal pollution in Turkey currently generate economic costs […]
Health Impacts of Germany’s Proposed Coal Power Plant Emissions Limits
German hard coal and lignite-fired power plants are among the worst industrial polluters in Europe, responsible for an estimated 4,400 deaths in 2013, second only to Poland. The European Environment Agency’s (2014) found that out that of the 20 European thermal power plants causing the most economic damage through their air pollutant emissions, five were in Germany.
Air Quality and Health Impacts of the Proposed EMBA Hunutlu Coal Power Project
Four new coal plant projects are planned in the Iskenderun Bay area, with the EMBA Hunutlu project being the closest to coming into existence. This 2 x 660 MW coal plant in Turkey, combined with the prevailing power plants, will put thousands of people at risk of breathing polluted air. The brief “Air Quality and Health Impacts of the Proposed EMBA Hunutlu Coal Power Project” evaluates many more health impacts of this project.