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– Coal power air pollution statistics highlight contributions from a small number of countries in Europe\u00a0<\/b><\/a>[1]<\/a>.\u00a0Turkey<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Ukraine<\/strong>\u00a0rank within the top three polluting countries across all types of air pollution.\u00a0Western Balkan countries<\/strong>\u00a0follow them despite their relatively small sizes. EU countries like\u00a0Germany\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0Poland\u00a0<\/b>are also among the worst for NOx pollution.<\/p>\n – <\/b><\/a>SO2 emissions of the plants in the top ten account for 44% of total SO2 emissions from coal power in Europe<\/strong>. The top ten ranking for SO2 consists of three coal plants each from\u00a0Turkey\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0Serbia<\/b>, two from\u00a0Bosnia & Herzegovina<\/b>, and one each from\u00a0Ukraine\u00a0<\/b>and\u00a0North Macedonia.<\/b><\/p>\n – <\/b><\/a>The majority of PM10 pollution from coal power generation originates from plants in\u00a0<\/strong>Ukraine<\/b>, which has eight plants in the top ten most polluting plants for PM10.<\/p>\n – <\/b><\/a>A breakdown of NOx pollution highlights Poland and Germany from the EU.<\/strong>\u00a0Polish\u00a0Be\u0142chat\u00f3w\u00a0<\/i>is on the top of the list, accompanied by four German plants in the top ten.<\/p>\n – <\/b><\/a>Almost all of the dirty coal power plants in the top thirty are older than 30 years.<\/strong>\u00a0The only exception is\u00a0Turkey<\/b>, which has plants less than ten years old amongst the top 30 polluters.<\/p>\n <\/b>– <\/a>Most Energy Community countries did not comply with the national pollutant emissions ceilings in 2019.\u00a0<\/b>Ukraine, as being on the top of all polluter lists, interestingly met all emission ceilings for all three pollutants by a large margin.<\/p>\n – <\/b><\/a>Turkey, Ukraine and Western Balkan Countries subsidize their dirty coal power plants directly or implicitly by neglecting emission standards<\/strong>; however, this incentive should be channeled into their\u00a0abundant renewable energy potential<\/b>\u00a0which would replace coal power easily.<\/p>\n Air pollution is a mixture of gaseous and particulate components that pose a\u00a0threat to human health<\/a>\u00a0and are responsible for high numbers of premature deaths. Pollutants are released into the atmosphere from a wide range of sources; including energy, manufacturing, transportation and agriculture sectors. Pollutants include particulate matter (PM), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx).<\/p>\nWho is behind Europe\u2019s coal power air pollution?<\/h2>\n