The emissions of the Greek electricity sector per fuel and the trend for the total monthly sectoral emissions from January 2013 -when the emission allowances in the EU ETS ceased to be free – until today.
Τhe power sector is expected to be the first to decarbonize en route to climate neutrality by 2050, a target to which Greece committed itself with the first national climate law in 2022. Τhe maturity of RES technologies, the ever increasing operating costs of thermal plants as well as the broader European climate policy will further contribute to this direction. According to the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), this reduction of the power sector’s carbon footprint is expected to be frontbearing, since the sector’s emissions will be limited to 3.9 million tonnes at maximum by 2030 from about 20 million tons in 2020.
Due to the crucial role of the electricity sector for the country’s overall climate performance, the Green Tank, since 2023, monitors and analyzes on a monthly basis the emissions from all thermal power plants in the interconnected network and non-interconnected islands, obtaining data from:
- The Emissions Trading System database containing the annual emissions data of all combustion plants;
- the official monthly Energy Reports of the Greek IPTO (ADMIE) for electricity production in the interconnected network,
- HEDNO’s monthly data for the electricity production in the Non-Interconnected Islands (NII),
and implementing a specific methodology and assumptions that are required to forecast the monthly emissions of all thermal plants in the country.
The monthly analysis presents the CO2 emissions per fuel (lignite, fossil gas and oil) and per thermal power plant. Additionally, each month the analysis includes estimates of the remaining carbon budget of the Public Power Corporation’s thermal plants set the company itself in order to achieve the emissions reduction target.