Power station on 'dirty 30' list

Npower said the Didcot A station had been made more efficient

Didcot Power Station in Oxfordshire has been named among the worst polluting in Europe by environmental campaigners.

Eco-group WWF's "Dirty Thirty" report claims 10 of Europe's biggest emitters of carbon dioxide are in the UK - with Didcot named as fourth worst.

The report claims emissions at the power station rose by 2.1% between 2005 and 2006 to 9,504,880 tonnes of CO2.

RWE Npower said its coal-burning Didcot A station had been made more efficient and would ultimately close by 2015.

We agree with the WWF the UK's power generation mix needs to move over to a lower carbon economy RWE Npower spokesman

A spokesman added the report counted that station and the gas-burning Didcot B as one.

"Adding their total carbon emissions together...distorts the picture," he said.

"Leaving that aside, in general, we agree with the WWF the UK's power generation mix needs to move over to a lower carbon economy.

"That is why Didcot A has been made more efficient, burns biomass and will ultimately close by 2015.

"It's also why we're planning to invest billions building new gas power stations and renewable energy to shift to a lower carbon economy, but we can't do this overnight."

A WWF spokesman said its report was based on data from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

Dr Keith Allott, head of climate change at WWF-UK, said: "The UK's welcome attempts to show international leadership on climate change are being undermined by the dismal failure to cut our own emissions, or to reverse our increasing reliance on coal, the most polluting energy source of all."

The report named the biggest polluter in the UK as Yorkshire's Drax power station, which is said to have released about 23 million tonnes in 2006, up 10% on the previous year.