The overall pollutants emission from impinging swirling and non-swirling inverse diffusion flames (IDFs) was evaluated quantitatively by the 'hood' method. The results of in-flame volumetric concentrations of CO and NO(x) and overall pollutants emission of CO and NO(x) in terms of emission index were reported. The in-flame volumetric concentrations of CO and NO(x) were measured through a small hole drilled on the impingement plate. In comparison with the corresponding open flame, the CO and NO(x) concentrations for the impinging swirling IDF are greatly lowered due to the entrainment of much more ambient air which is related to the increased flame surface area. For the swirling and non-swirling IDFs, the EINO(x) increases as the nozzle-to-plate distance (H) increases because more space is available for the development of the high-temperature zone in the free jet portion of the impinging flame, which favors the thermal NO formation. The variation of EICO with H is different for the impinging swirling and non-swirling IDFs because they have different flame structures. For both flames, the EICO is high when their main reaction zone or inner reaction cone is impinged and quenched by the copper plate. The parameters of air jet Reynolds number, overall equivalence ratio and nozzle-to-plate distance have significant influence on the overall pollutants emission of the impinging swirling and non-swirling IDFs and the comparison shows that the swirling IDF emits less NO(x) and CO under most of the experimental conditions tested. Furthermore, it is found that compared with the open flames, the impinging flames emit lower level of NO(x) and higher level of CO. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.