Poland is home once again to Europe's dirtiest power plant, but German utilities still owned 11 of the 30 most polluting facilities in the European Union in 2008, preliminary EU data showed.

A proposed UK scheme designed to force some 5,000 businesses to cut carbon emissions by reducing their energy consumption gives companies no reason to buy renewable energy, critics said on Friday.

"Businesses need greater incentives to demand increased renewable power in their fuel mix, not less," said Jo Butlin, vice president at UK renewable power supplier Smartest Energy.