In April 2025, CO2 emissions from fossil fuel power plants were 0.88 million tons, the lowest in the last three years, thanks to the large decrease in gas this month. However, a total of 5.38 million tons were emitted in the first four months of 2025, of which gas is responsible for 52%. As a result, 53% of the sector’s annual carbon budget (10.2 million tons) has already been emitted, signaling that the sector is off track to meet the relevant target reflected in the NECP.
Monthly emissions from each power plant in Greece are estimated based on the latest available electricity production data (April 2025 for the interconnected network and March 2025 for the non-interconnected islands) and the annual CO2 emissions from ETS (2023), following the methodology and assumptions presented here.
In April 2025 carbon intensity[1] was 226 g CO2/kWh, up 3.3% compared to March 2025, but still below the average annual intensity factor for 2024 (263 g CO2/kWh) and the average for the first two months of 2025 (332 g CO2/kWh for January-February). This increase in carbon intensity is mainly due to a decrease in total electricity generation (-16% compared to March) which exceeded the decrease in total emissions this month (-13% compared to March).
In April 2025, carbon emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants were 0.88 million tons, the lowest in 36 months. The second lowest were in April 2022 at 0.84 million tons. This performance is due to the fact that gas-fired power generation, which is now the sector’s main source of emissions, fell to a 17-month low.
Despite lower emissions in April, cumulative emissions in the first four months of 2025 summed to 5.38 million tons and they were the highest in three years for the same period. The reason for this is the huge increase in the use of fossil gas in power generation in the first three months of 2025, which led to a 16% increase in total emissions compared to the first quarter of 2024.
Emissions from fossil gas plants were 2.78 million tons for the first quarter and the highest in at least a decade. They are responsible for 52% of all power generation emissions and they showed a 35% increase compared to the same period in 2024.
Emissions from lignite plants were 1.75 million tons for the first four months and close to 2024 emissions for the same period (1.77 million tons), representing 32% of total emissions.
Emissions from oil-fired plants in non-interconnected islands were 0.72 million tons for the first four months and close to their last three-year average (0.7 million tons). We soon expect to see a decline thanks to the new Crete interconnection, which started getting tested in May.
In terms of the breakdown of emissions per power plant, Agios Dimitrios lignite power plant remained in the first place with 1.29 million tons of emissions in the first four months of 2025. During this period, the plant emitted 75% of all lignite emissions and 25% of total power generation emissions. It was also the only lignite-fired power plant in operation in April.
In second place was Megalopolis V with 0.44 million tons. Ptolemaida 5 fell to third place with 0.435 million tons of emissions due to low production in March and zero production in April.
The remaining three out of the top five largest polluters for the first quarter of 2025 were two fossil gas plants, Agios Nikolaos II with 0.42 million tons and Lavrio IV-V with 0.36 million tons. For Lavrio IV-V, this represents a 62% increase in emissions compared to the first quarter of 2024.
In non-interconnected islands, the three largest polluters remain the three oil-fired power stations of Crete, Atherinolakos, Linoperamata and the Chania station, with emissions of 0.17, 0.13 and 0.063 million tons respectively for the first four months of 2025. These three plants together were responsible for 51% of all emissions from oil-fired power plants. Rhodes power plant followed with 0.06 million tons and then the Lesvos power plant with 0.05 million tons.
According to the revised National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) submitted in January 2025 to the European Commission, emissions in the electricity sector are expected to decrease significantly in the coming years. In particular, the target for 2030 is a maximum of 4 million tons for emissions from all three fuels (lignite, fossil gas, oil). This represents a significant reduction (-91%) compared to 2013, the year in which thermal power plants started to bear the cost of the carbon they emitted through the Emissions Trading System (ETS).
In the final NECP the estimated emissions for 2025 are 10.2 million tons, 5.05 million tons, less than in 2024 (15.25 million tons[2]). In the four months of 2024, a total of 5.38 million tons are estimated to have been emitted from the power generation sector. This represents 52.8% of the available carbon budget for the whole year. The remaining carbon budget is just 4.82 million tons for the remaining 8 months of 2025, indicating that the sector is off track to meet the target.
You can see the evolution of the electricity sector emissions since 2013, as well as read the analyses from previous months here.
[1] Carbon intensity is defined as the ratio of emissions from the three fuels (lignite, gas and oil, including CHP) to the country’s total electricity production from the interconnected grid and the non-interconnected islands.
[2] The 2024 emissions are the estimated emissions based on the assumptions reported here, as the official data from the EU Registry have not yet been released.
