Deadline expired in the night
Gas and nuclear power plants officially climate-friendly from 2023
07/12/2022, 02:12 am
EU countries have until midnight to object to the classification of gas and nuclear power plants as climate-friendly. That stays out. According to the plan, the two energy sources should now be able to find investors more easily from January. Complaints could change that.
As expected, investments in certain gas and nuclear power plants in the EU can be classified as climate-friendly from January 2023. A deadline for EU countries to stop the controversial financial project expired at midnight on Monday.
Last week, the EU Parliament approved the inclusion of nuclear power and gas in the so-called taxonomy, subject to conditions. The classification system is intended to help companies and citizens to identify climate-friendly projects and invest money there. The aim is to advance the fight against climate change. Environmentalists had criticized that gas and nuclear power plants are not environmentally friendly.
Last year, a decision was made to classify electricity production with solar panels, hydroelectric power or wind power as climate-friendly. In addition, criteria have been defined for numerous other economic sectors. Under pressure from some member states, the EU Commission responsible for legislative proposals then proposed at the end of last year that investments in gas and nuclear power plants should also be considered climate-friendly under certain conditions.
France continues to rely on nuclear power
France, which sees nuclear power as a key technology for a CO2-free economy and would like to continue exporting the technology to other countries, played a decisive role in this. In return, Germany advocated a green label for gas as a transitional technology. Environmentalists had strongly criticized the project, since greenhouse gases are emitted when energy is generated with natural gas and nuclear power is considered to be problematic due to the radioactive waste and possible accidents.
At least 20 EU countries, representing at least 65 percent of the total EU population, would have had to join forces to prevent the proposal. This did not happen by the deadline on Monday, also because many states are interested in using nuclear power. They hope that the climate-friendly classification will mean that more money will flow into the expansion of nuclear power plants. The so-called legal act on the taxonomy will now come into force on January 1 of next year. Countries like Austria and environmental organizations are planning to sue.