Monday, November 8th, 2021
Against plans from EU partners
Schulze doesn’t believe in “green” nuclear power
In Germany it should soon be a thing of the past, elsewhere it is an integral part of energy policy: France in particular is planning to use nuclear power on the way to climate neutrality. Can nuclear energy be sustainable? The federal government says no.
Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze opposes demands from EU partners to classify nuclear energy as sustainable. “We do not want nuclear energy, we do not consider it sustainable, and we also do not want the EU to support it,” said the acting minister in the newspapers of the Funke media group.
The German position on this is clear, and “we’re not the only ones who see it that way,” said Social Democrat Schulze. It has also not yet been decided that this classification will come, “even if France is currently very vocal about its interests”.
Nuclear power is not a solution in the fight against climate change. “Building nuclear power plants is far too expensive and takes far too long to protect the climate,” said the minister. “Suppose we would decide to make nuclear power again. You find a community that wants a nuclear power plant, you apply for permits, open a major social conflict and then build – there we are after 2045, until the thing is finished. That doesn’t help the climate. “
Investors look to Brussels
France, Poland and six other Eastern European countries are urging the EU Commission to recognize nuclear power as sustainable. Proponents argue that the EU cannot become climate-neutral by 2050 without nuclear power.
According to information from Brussels diplomats, through intensive negotiations behind the scenes, France has now convinced a majority of the EU states that nuclear power should be part of the so-called taxonomy. This is a legal text by the EU Commission that investors around the world are eagerly awaiting. Should the Brussels authority classify nuclear energy as “sustainable” in a few weeks’ time, that would be tantamount to recommending the financial markets to invest in nuclear facilities.
Schulze said she had the impression that one or the other had forgotten why Germany was pulling out of nuclear power: “There were two major accidents, Chernobyl and Fukushima. We made a conscious decision not to do that anymore because one of them was tight populated country like Germany is too dangerous. ” What is needed now is a “real breakthrough” in renewable energies.