German plant tops EU’s dirty dozen CO2 emitters

For a second straight year, seven of the twelve dirtiest European installations
are in Germany, preliminary 2007 data from the European Commission showed on Wednesday.

German utility RWE AG’s lignite coal plant at Niederaussem topped the list, spewing the equivalent of 31.3 million tonnes of earth-warming carbon dioxide (CO2) last year comparable to the total greenhouse gas emissions of Croatia.

RWE (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) owns four of the top seven emitters, together producing 87.3 million tonnes of CO2, roughly equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of Portugal.

Last year’s top emitter, Poland’s Belchatow S.A., operated by state-owned BOT Elektrownia,came in second, belching more than 28 million tonnes of CO2.
The total emissions for the top 12 were 225.7 million tonnes in 2007, up 0.6 percent from 2006 and approximately equal to the combined emissions of Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Of the top emitters, 11 were power generators, and for the first time a steel plant, owned by ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS: Quote, Profile, Research), made the list.

With the exception of Britain’s Drax Power Station, who were forced to purchase 7.6 million carbon credits, permits allocated to the installations on average exceeded their 2007 verified emissions by around 54,300 tonnes.

Rank State Company Installation/ Total CO2 +/-

                                  Location          Emissions   Quota

                                                    (in millions tonnes CO2)1     DE    RWE AG (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research)        Niederaussem        31.3       28.7     -2.62     PL    BOT Elektrownia         Belchatow S.A.      28.3       30.8      2.5

3     DE    Vattenfall (VTTG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research)    Jaenischwalde       24.2       25.8      1.6

4     UK    Drax Group PLC (DRX.L: Quote, Profile, Research)  Drax Power Station  22.2       14.6     -7.6

5     DE    RWE AG (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research)        Weisweiler          19.7       19.0     -0.7

6     DE    RWE AG (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research)        Neurath             19.6       20.3      0.7

7     DE    RWE AG (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research)        Frimmersdorf        16.8       16.9      0.1

8     IT    Enel SPA (ENEI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research)      TE - Brindisi Sud   14.2       13.4     -0.8

9     DE    E.ON AG (EONG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research)       Kraftwerk Scholven  12.6       10.9     -1.7

10    DE    Vattenfall (VTTG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research)    Schwarze Pumpe      12.4       13.1      0.7

11    PL    BOT Elektrownia         Turow S.A.          12.3       13.0      0.6

12    FR    ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) Dunkerque           12.1       12.2      0.2

                                 2007 TOTAL         225.7      218.7     -7.0

                                 2006 TOTAL         224.4      220.7     -3.7Source: EU 2007 emissions data - hereFor additional analysis on the carbon markets, go to here