Decarbonizing power — gas (ccgt): the honest pathway

Gas power pays full carbon price from day one — no free allocation, ever. At €77/t that's ≈€28/MWh inside the EU: carbon is now a fuel-sized line item, which puts heat rate back at the centre of plant economics.

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Cost exposure

What one MWh carries, 2026 → 2034

Year	Free allocation (EU)	Payable carbon cost	Annual bill (per 1,000,000 MWh)
2026	97.5%	€0.74 / MWh	€740,092
2030	51.5%	€14.36 / MWh	€14,357,794
2034	0.0%	€29.60 / MWh	€29,603,700

At EUA €80.01 (July 13, 2026) and ≈0.37 t CO2/MWh at 55-60% efficiency (full ETS exposure). EU ETS industry schedule; exporters under CBAM follow the mirrored phase-in. Power sectors pay 100% from day one.

⬇ This table + pathway (CSV)🖨 PDF for management

The pathway, ranked

Reduction measures for power — gas (ccgt)

Heat-rate recovery: inlet cooling, compressor wash, insulation−2%

HRSG optimisation & attemperation discipline−1%

Hydrogen co-firing readiness−50%

CCS post-combustion−90%

Flexible operation for renewable-heavy grids−0%

Indicative reduction potential of each measure against the relevant emissions share (sources: IEA industry roadmaps, sector associations — see each measure page). Measures stack but don't simply add.

The fast tonnes

Heat losses you can cut this budget year

Our CCGT/HRSG heat-rate calculator is built exactly for this: HRSG casing, valves and steam-side losses converted into heat-rate and €/yr. On a 2 GW site, 0.1% of heat rate is real money even before the carbon term — with it, efficiency projects screened at €30/t deserve a re-run.

Method: ASTM C680 / ISO 12241 surface energy balance — the same engine as our public calculators. Typical removable-insulation effect across hot-process plants: 2–5% of fuel-related CO2, payback up to 2 years.

Context

How power — gas (ccgt) compares (t CO2 per unit)

Hydrogen production9 t/t H2

Ammonia & fertilizers2 t/t NH3

Steel — BF-BOF (integrated)1.9 t/t steel

Aluminium1.6 t/t Al

Lime1.2 t/t lime

Petrochemicals1 t/t HVC

Power — coal0.95 t/MWh

Power — gas (CCGT)0.37 t/MWh

Direct-emission intensities, typical published values per industry page — units differ by product; see each page for sources.

FAQ

Power — gas (CCGT) & carbon, answered

Why does a CCGT care about €77/t more than industry does?

Power gets zero free allocation — the full price lands on every MWh from day one: ≈€28/MWh at current EUA, often the second-largest cost after fuel.

What CO2 does insulation save on a power plant?

Heat-rate basis: recovered HRSG/steam-side losses improve heat rate fractions of a percent — small in %, large in absolute fuel+carbon on baseload hours.

Is hydrogen co-firing real?

Most new turbines are 30-50% H2-capable; economics wait on hydrogen supply. Heat-rate efficiency pays regardless of which fuel future arrives.

How this page is built: heat-loss figures follow ASTM C680 / ISO 12241 (the method behind our public calculators); facility emissions from Climate TRACE & EU ETS verified data across 30,000+ industrial sites; the 2026–2034 schedule is Regulation (EU) 2023/956, not a forecast. Published by Inzonex Research. Spotted an error? Tell us — we correct on evidence.