The invention relates to a method for the thermal disposal of pollutants in industrial gases, wherein, in order to generate a flame for burning the pollutants, a fuel gas and oxygen are fed into a combustion chamber (19) of a burner (1), where they are then ignited, wherein a diluent gas is fed in in order to reduce the calorific value of the gas mixture relative to the fuel gas, while the throughput of the diluent gas is regulated as a function of the composition of the industrial gas in order to adapt the gas mixture consisting of diluent gas and fuel gas. The invention also relates to a burner (1) for generating a flame (2) in a combustion chamber (19) for burning pollutants in an industrial gas, and to a waste-gas treatment device having at least one burner (1) arranged in a combustion chamber (19).