Environmental cost-benefit analysis and the EU (European Union) Industrial Emissions Directive: Exploring the societal efficiency of a DeNOx retrofit at a coal-fired power plant

Aiming to reduce potentially harmful emissions to the environment, the recent European IED (Industrial Emissions Directive) requires that industrial installations are equipped with BAT (best available techniques). However, flexibility mechanisms are foreseen to avoid inefficiencies. One such derogation allows competent authorities to set less strict emission limit values if the installation and operation of BAT leads to disproportionate costs (i.e. abatement costs exceed related environmental benefits).