Russia: Portillo explains Germany’s fears over gas supply
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In a letter to the EU Commission, Luxembourg, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands urged President Ursula Von der Leyen to “not include any fossil fuel activities as sustainable in the current taxonomy”. The EU taxonomy for sustainable activities is a system of classification that is established to determine which investments are environmentally sustainable.
This system was created in the wake of the European Green Deal in July 2020 and was made to help prevent “greenwashing” among different investments.
The energy section of this taxonomy has been the subject of a fierce debate in the EU over the past few months.
The Commission is set to present the EU’s taxonomy proposal today, following the weekly meeting of the College of Commissioners.
Members of the European Parliament, who need to approve the taxonomy, are also unhappy with Commission and how it has handled nuclear energy and fossil fuels.
The Greens’ Bas Eickhout spoke to POLITICO saying: “The Commission is making a huge mistake by trying to please the national governments, instead of listening to what is needed for the climate.”
Countries are split over whether to label nuclear energy and natural gas as “green”, which could open it to billions of euros of private-sector investment.
Germany, which is heavily reliant on imported gas, particularly from Russia, has been pushing for gas to be considered a green investment as it is often a transition energy source between coal and other renewable energy sources.
Mr Eickhout warned that if the taxonomy proposal remains the same as the document that was put forth on December 31st, it would be “a big blow to the EU’s credibility as a climate leader.
“Other countries are looking at Europe’s taxonomy and they see that the ‘first climate-neutral continent’ labels a fossil fuel as green, although all climate scenarios point out the need to use less gas to achieve the climate goals.”
Over the next few weeks, the Greens will attempt to find the necessary votes needs in the EU parliament to block the delegated act.
However, that scenario looks unlikely as the taxonomy has the backing of major EU powers like France and Germany.
And as of January 1, 2036, the Commission said all gas-fired power plants would have to “switch to renewable or low-carbon gases” to qualify for the EU’s green investment label.
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But under EU rules, no technology can be considered green if it causes “significant harm” to any of the taxonomy’s six environmental objectives.
Those are climate change mitigation and adaptation, water protection, the transition to a circular economy, pollution prevention, and biodiversity protection.
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