The 2025 power outage temporarily worsened emissions from industry in Tarragona.

TarragonaData on industrial pollution in the Camp de Tarragona region improves every year, although during 2025, due to the general blackout of AprilEmissions of one of the monitored toxic components spiked. The power outage that plunged Catalonia, Spain, and Portugal into darkness disrupted the normal operation of the chemical plants in Tarragona and triggered a surge in emissions of 1,3-butadiene, one of the volatile compounds generated by the industrial process. In Catalonia, emissions of this element are not regulated by any legislation, but the Ontario (Canada) standard is used as a reference, which sets the annual average for these emissions at 2 µg/m³. During last year's nationwide blackout, levels of this compound reached as high as 150 µg/m³, according to measurements from the petrochemical plant's own sensors in El Morell. Despite this incident, average emissions throughout the Camp de Tarragona region last year did not exceed 2 µg/m³.

All this data was presented this Tuesday by the Camp de Tarragona Air Quality Observatory, an organization promoted by the petrochemical sector itself and coordinated by the Cerdà Institute and the Rovira i Virgili University, which is responsible for the study. The director of the Territory area of ​​the Cerdà Institute, Lluís Inglada, pointed out that there are no regulations establishing limits for the specific emissions of this compound, and noted that despite this incident, "year after year, the levels of 1,3-butadiene have been decreasing." Inglada also explained that the sensor that detected such a high level on a single occasion "is only 500 meters from the petrochemical plant's fence," but that in the same municipality of El Morell there is another sensor where the emission level was already half that. In conclusion, Inglada asserted that "the data indicate that there is no problem in the Camp de Tarragona region."

Globally, since 2018, when these measurements began, all data indicate a reduction in emissions, especially in recent years. Similarly, the study's lead researcher, Professor Francesc Borrull, Chair of Analytical Chemistry at Rovira i Virgili University, celebrated that "the historical data shows how emissions exceeding [reference limits] have been decreasing since 2022." Thanks to the Observatory, 75 volatile compounds are analyzed with the aim of providing scientific data—and avoiding perceptions that could generate concern—and also with the objective of helping the chemical sector reduce these emissions, as Inglada emphasized.