Persistent extreme heat across Europe has driven a surge in residential air conditioning demand, causing a sharp rise in electricity consumption for cooling. This, in turn, has led to a rebound in carbon emissions as coal-fired power generation has increased. With hydropower and nuclear power output constrained, a large number of aging coal-fired power plants in Eastern Europe—many of which have been in service for decades—have been forced to operate at full capacity to ensure a reliable power supply. As a result, their desulfurization and denitrification equipment has been operating under prolonged overload, leading to a decline in pollutant treatment efficiency. The continuous emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from power plants have spread across borders via atmospheric circulation, forming ground-level ozone under conditions of high temperatures and strong sunlight. At the same time, this has significantly increased the likelihood of regional acid rain, leading to a simultaneous worsening of air pollution across Europe.
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