Greece’s carbon emissions from the power sector reached 4.5 million tons in the first quarter of 2025, the highest level in three years, driven largely by the country’s increased use of fossil gas, according to the Green Tank. The surge in emissions has pushed Greece off-track from meeting its National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) targets for 2025, warns the think-tank.
In just three months, the power sector has consumed 44% of its available carbon budget for the entire year, raising concerns about the feasibility of reaching the annual target of 10.2 million tons. “The power sector needs to make significant steps to get back on track,” says the Green Tank.
Total emissions in the first quarter were 23% higher than the same period in 2024, primarily due to increased fossil gas use. Emissions from fossil gas plants accounted for 54% of total power sector emissions, the highest level recorded in the past decade. Meanwhile, lignite and oil emissions remained relatively stable (+2.6% for lignite and -0.6% for oil).
Despite lignite’s declining share of emissions—down by more than 50% over the past decade—it still made up 35% of power sector emissions in Q1 2025. Two lignite plants and three gas plants ranked among the top five polluters for the quarter.
At the top of the list of Greece’s “biggest polluters” are two lignite-fired plants and three fossil gas plants:
- Agios Dimitrios (lignite), with emissions of 1.07 million tons, representing 70.3% of total lignite emissions.
- Ptolemaida 5 (lignite), with emissions of 0.43 million tons, despite producing just 14.05 GWh of electricity.
- Agios Nikolaos II (fossil gas) 0.39 million tons
- Megalopolis V (fossil gas) 0.38 million tons
- Lavrion IV-V (fossil gas) 0.3 million tons
The lack of connectivity between Greece’s mainland and many of its islands continues to exacerbate the country’s emissions problem. On the non-interconnected islands, the top five polluters were all oil-fired power stations located on Crete and Rhodes.
Crete’s plants at Atherinolakos, Linoperamata, and Chania emitted 0.12, 0.09, and 0.04 million tons respectively, while two plants in Rhodes contributed a total of 0.08 million tons of CO2 emissions.
According to the NECP, Greece aims to cap power sector emissions at 4 million tons by 2030—a 91% reduction from 2013 levels. However, with 44% of the 2025 carbon budget already used in Q1, the think tank questions whether or not Greece will be able to get back on track.
