In the first two months of 2025, 3.43 million tons were emitted from the power sector, an increase of 41.6% compared to the same period in 2024. The top five polluters were 2 lignite and 3 fossil gas plants. The sector’s emissions are off track to meet the estimated total emissions target for 2025 (10.2 million tons), based on the final revised NECP.
The monthly emissions from each power plant in Greece are estimated based on the latest available electricity production data (February 2025 for the interconnected network and January 2025 for the non-interconnected islands) and the annual CO2 emissions from ETS (2023), following the methodology and assumptions presented here.
In February 2025 the carbon intensity[1] was 335 g CO2/kWh, 25% higher than the 2024 average (269 g CO2/kWh). The high carbon intensity is due to increased fossil fuel use in February, mainly fossil gas, which follows an increasing trend since October 2024.
In February 2025, CO2 emissions from fossil fuel power plants were 1.69 million tons, down slightly from the previous month (1.74 million tons in January).
Cumulative emissions for the first two months of 2025 reached 3.43 million tons, surpassing those of the previous four years (2021-2024). They appeared up 41.6% (+1 million tons) compared to the first two months of 2024. The increase came from all three fossil fuels, but mainly from fossil gas and lignite whose use for electricity production increased by 78% and 24.3% respectively. In terms of sources, the largest increase in emissions was from fossil gas (+0.8 million tons or +78.1%). This was followed by lignite with +0.19 million tons (+18%) and finally oil in the non-interconnected islands with a very small increase (+0.02 million tons or +5.9%).
Emissions from fossil gas plants in the first two months of 2025 exceeded 50% of total emissions (1.82 million tons or 53%). In fact, it was the highest emissions from gas plants for the corresponding period since 2013. Emissions from lignite-fired generation (1.25 million tons or 36.6% share) were lower than the corresponding emissions for the previous years since 2013, with the exception of last year when they were higher. The share of oil plants on the non-interconnected islands was lower (0.36 million tons or 10.5%).
In terms of the distribution of emissions among power plants, Agios Dimitrios lignite power plant ranked 1st in the first two months of 2025, with emissions of 0.81 million tons (65% of emissions from lignite-fired plants). In February, same as in January, three out of the five units of the NPP (III-V) with a total production of 516 GWh were in operation, covering the district heating of the city of Kozani. Ptolemaida 5 came second in the ranking, emitting 0.42 million tonnes in the first two months of 2025, while the Meliti I lignite plant, which operated only in February, emitted just 0.02 million tonnes.
The top five largest polluters were completed by three gas plants, Agios Nikolaos II (0.31 million tonnes), Megalopolis V (0.3 million tonnes) and Lavrio IV-V (0.24 million tonnes).
In total, emissions from fossil gas plants reached 59.2% of the emissions from thermal plants in the country’s interconnected network (lignite and fossil gas together).
In the Non-interconnected Islands, the top three positions were held by two of the three oil plants located in Crete (Aterinolakos, Linoperamata) with emissions of 0.08, 0.07 respectively, and were ranked 13th and 14th in the overall ranking. In 17th place was the Soroni station in Rhodes with 0.03 million tonnes, very close to the oil station in Chania.
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 emissions is that emissisions from all three fuels should not exceed 4 million tons. This represents a significant reduction (-91%) compared to 2013, the year in which thermal plants started to bear the cost of the carbon they emitted to 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 January 2025, the electricity sector emitted an estimated 3.43 million tons, 33.6% of the available carbon budget for the year. This is almost double the amount that would need to be emitted in the first two months of the year for the electricity sector to be on track to meet its total emissions estimate based on the NECP. The remaining carbon budget for the next 10 months of 2025 is 6.77 million tons.
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.