EU's "dirty 30" carbon dioxide emitters in '09

LONDON (Reuters) - A Polish coal-burning plant

topped the list of Europe's dirtiest installations for a third straight year in 2009, despite

the plant cutting its emissions by 4.5 percent, preliminary European Commission data showed.

The Belchatow plant, run by state-owned utility BOT Elektrownia, belched 29.5 million

tonnes of climate-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere last year, down 1.4 million

tonnes from 2008 but still roughly equivalent to the total emissions of Croatia.

With 12 out of the top 30, Germany was again home to most of Europe's biggest emitters.

The "dirty thirty," a term first coined by green group WWF, collectively emitted 348.1

million tonnes of CO2 last year, down 10.2 percent from 2008 and 12 percent below 2007 levels.

The data, released on April 1, showed total CO2 released by all plants regulated by the

EU's Emissions Trading Scheme fell by over 11 percent last year, underlining the severe impact

of a global economic downturn on European industry.

The top 30 emitting plants received some 265.4 million EU emissions permits under the

scheme. This was below their total emissions, meaning they were forced to buy an additional

82.7 million from the market at a cost of around 1.1 billion euros ($1.48 billion).

Coal-fired power plants made up the bulk of 2009's top 30 though two steel plants managed

to remain on the list: one in France owned by ArcelorMittal and the other in Germany run by

ThyssenKrupp.

Belchatow and Vattenfall's Jaenschwalde plant are among those due to get 180 million euros

in EU funding to help them bury their emissions underground.

Below is a list of the EU's "dirty thirty" that includes CO2 figures for 2008 and 2009 in

millions of tonnes of CO2 equivalent, as well as percentage change. Also included are the

number of free emissions permits allocated and the permit surplus/deficit faced by each.

RANK MEMBER COMPANY PLANT/ EMISSIONS PCT PERMIT LONG/

NEW OLD STATE LOCATION 2009 2008 CHG ALLOC. SHORT

1 1 Poland BOT Elektrownia Belchatow 29.5 30.9 -4.5 26.9 -2.5

2 2 Germany RWE AG Niederaussem 26.3 24.9 5.7 14.9 -11.4

3 3 Germany Vattenfall Jaenschwalde 23.3 23.5 -0.9 12.2 -11.0

4 4 UK Drax Group Drax 19.9 22.3 -11.0 9.5 -10.4

5 5 Germany RWE AG Weisweiler 19.0 21.4 -11.2 10.6 -8.4

6 7 Germany RWE AG Neurath 17.9 18.0 -0.4 8.4 -9.5

7 6 Germany RWE AG Frimmersdorf 16.8 18.6 -9.6 8.2 -8.6

8 8 Italy Enel SPA TE Brindisi Sud 13.0 14.9 -13.0 10.4 -2.6

9 11 Greece Public Power Agios Dimitrios 12.9 11.8 9.5 11.0 -1.9

10 12 Germany Vattenfall Bohlen 12.8 11.4 12.2 8.6 -4.2

11 9 Poland BOT Elektrownia Turow Bogatynia 11.6 12.9 -9.7 11.2 -0.5

12 17 Poland BOT Elektrownia Kozienice 10.7 10.0 6.8 9.6 -1.1

13 10 Germany Vattenfall Schwarze Pumpe 10.7 12.5 -14.4 8.1 -2.5

14 20 Greece Public Power Kardia 9.6 9.6 0.0 8.4 -1.2

15 13 France ArcelorMittal Dunkerque 9.2 11.3 -18.6 11.7 2.5

16 16 UK EDF Cottam 8.4 10.2 -17.0 4.9 -3.5

17 21 Germany Vattenfall Boxberg 8.1 9.3 -13.4 4.3 -3.8

18 18 UK E.ON Ratcliffe on Soar 7.6 9.9 -23.2 4.9 -2.7

19 New Poland BOT Elektrownia Opole 7.4 6.9 7.3 6.5 -0.9

20 New UK Scottish Power Longannet 7.3 5.9 24.4 5.6 -1.7

21 26 Poland BOT Elektrownia Rybnik 7.2 8.1 -10.8 7.6 0.4

22 New Germany Vattenfall Boxberg 7.2 6.1 17.2 4.3 -2.8

23 19 UK EDF West Burton 7.2 9.7 -25.7 4.9 -2.3

24 25 Estonia Eesti Elektrijaam Narva 7.0 8.3 -15.0 7.2 0.2

25 30 Germany GKM (RWE, EnBW & MVV) Mannheim 6.6 7.1 -6.5 5.9 -0.8

26 24 Germany ThyssenKrupp Duisburg 6.6 8.8 -25.0 19.6 13.0

27 New Hungary RWE AG, MVM, EnBW Visonta 6.2 6.2 -1.1 4.6 -1.6

28 New Poland BOT Elektrownia Patnow I, Konin 6.1 7.1 -13.7 6.1 0.0

29 New Germany E.ON Schkopau 6.1 6.3 -4.1 3.6 -2.5

30 29 Romania Termoelectrica Turceni 6.1 7.4 -18.5 5.6 -0.4

TOTAL 348.1 387.8* -10.2 265.4 -82.7

AVERAGE 11.6 12.9 -10.2 8.8 -2.8

*2008 TOTAL figure is sum of last year's top 30.

Source: European Commission

(Reporting by Michael Szabo; Editing by James Jukwey)