Pollution of coal domestic power plants and the rest of Europe were responsible for 1,170 premature deaths in Spain in 2013, similar to those killed in traffic accidents that year, according to a WWF report supported by the World Health Organization of Health (WHO).
The study, “The black cloud over Europe: effects of burning coal on the health and economy of the EU” published by WWF and the Alliance for Health and the Environment (HEAL) and the Network of Action for the climate in Europe (cAN), analyzes the health impacts of pollution caused by air coal plants from which data in the EU: 257 of the 280 existing ones .
Their conclusion is that in 2013 emissions from coal throughout Europe were responsible for more than 22,900 premature deaths (comparable with 26,000 deaths in road accidents in the same year), “tens of thousands of cases of ill health by heart diseases or bronchitis ” spending up to 62,300 million euros.
The data suggest that the five countries that cause more deaths outside and inside their territory are Poland (5,830 premature deaths), Germany (4,350), United Kingdom (2,870), Romania (2,170) and Bulgaria (1,570).
Spain is the sixth responsible for premature deaths and most polluting power plants are “Andorra” in Teruel; “Aboño” in Asturias; “As Pontes” in Galicia, and “Litoral” in Almería.
On the contrary, there are seven EU countries that do not burn coal: Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Malta, and three have pledged to stop using it: Portugal in 2020 and the United Kingdom and Austria in 2025.
In addition to premature deaths, pollutants also cause other diseases , as about 11,800 new cases of bronchitis and chronic diseases 538,000 million asthma attacks in children in the EU, according to these organizations.
The report highlights that approximately 21,000 hospitalizations and 6.6 million lost working days are related to the emissions of coal power plants in Europe.
