208 Int. J. Environment and Pollution, Vol. 14, Nos. 1–6, 2000 Copyright © 2000 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Methodologies for atmospheric pollution assessment and the procedures for environmental permits in large combustion plants in Europe M. Tombrou Laboratory of Meteorology, Department of Applied Physics, Panepistimioupolis, Build. Phys-V, University of Athens, 15784 Athens, Greece D. Founda Institute of Meteorology and Physics of the Atmospheric Environment, National Observatory of Athens, 11810 Athens, Greece V. Tsadari Public Power Corporation, Aristotelous 30–32, 10433 Athens, Greece D. Lalas Institute of Meteorology and Physics of the Atmospheric Environment, National Observatory of Athens, 11810 Athens, Greece Abstract: The procedures followed by the European electricity companies for securing operation licenses and obtaining environmental permits, as well as the content of the environmental permits and authorization documents have been reviewed. The review aims to identify different and common elements of the procedures, since most of the companies recognize that the interaction between environmental procedures and the approval process is very complicated. In addition, the regulatory dispersion models used by these companies for environmental impact assessment studies are considered. The work is mainly based on information collected from electricity companies and environmental agencies in England, France, Italy, Germany and Greece. The results of these intercomparisons help to obtain a consensus view about the environmental issue for large combustion plants across Europe. Keywords: electricity companies, environmental impact assessment, environmental permits. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Tombrou, M., Founda, D., Tsadari, V. and Lalas, D. (2000) ‘Methodologies for atmospheric pollution assessment and the procedures for environmental permits in large combustion plants in Europe’, Int. J. Environment and Pollution , Vol. 14, Nos. 1–6, pp. 208–216.