Lung-penetrating dust from coal-fired power plants in the European Union claims about 23,000 lives a year and racks up tens of billions of euros in health costs, an NGO report said today.
Even as the bloc shifts towards renewable sources like wind and Sun energy, coal still accounted for 18 per cent of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2014 and a quarter of its electricity mix in 2015.
Emissions from 257 power plants for which data was available were associated with 22,900 premature deaths in 2013, the report said.
The study was compiled by researchers from four green energy lobby groups, the Health and Environment Alliance, the WWF, Climate Action Network Europe and Sandbag.