Longannet in Fife has been named on the list of the most-polluting power stations in Europe. The plant, owned by ScottishPower, is ranked 15th in the "Dirty Thirty" for carbon dioxide emissions.
A report assembled by the World Wildlife Fund revealed that the two dirtiest power stations in the EU are in Greece. The Longannet plant is the only one in Scotland to make the list.
Ten of the 30 biggest emitters of carbon dioxide in Europe are in the UK and the combined emissions from these power stations increased by nearly 8% last year, according to the report.
The biggest polluter in the UK was the Drax station near Selby in Yorkshire, which is twice the size of any other in the UK and released 23 million tonnes in 2006, up 10% on the previous year. The other biggest polluters were Longannet and EDF Energy's Cottam station, which each emitted over 10 million tonnes of CO2. Levels of emissions from Longannet and Cottam increased by more than 20% between 2005 and 2006.
The 30 plants on the list are all coal-fired and produced 393 million tonnes of heat-trapping CO2, equal to 10% of all CO2 emissions in the EU.
"The facts are clear in that the power sector needs to phase out dirty coal as soon as possible," said Stephan Singer, head of WWF's European Climate and Energy Unit.
ScottishPower last night hit back at Longannet's ranking and disputed some of the figures used by the WWF.
A spokesman said: "Longannet meets the most stringent air quality standards set by the EU authorities.
"We are concerned by the figures quoted in the report as ScottishPower's independ-ently verified data states that the intensity of Longannet emissions is 890 grams per kwh versus the WWF figure of 970 grams per kwh."
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