EU declares natural gas and nuclear energy sustainable investments, drawing protests

By AP 6 July 2022, 2:42 pm

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European Union lawmakers have voted to include natural gas and nuclear energy in the bloc’s list of sustainable activities, backing a controversial proposal from the bloc’s executive arm that has been drawing fierce criticism from environment groups.

The European Commission earlier this year made the proposal as part of its plans for building a climate-friendly future, dividing member countries and drawing outcry from environmentalists as “greenwashing.”

EU legislators from the environment and economy committees objected last month to the plan, setting up Wednesday’s cliff-edge vote in Strasbourg, France. But EU legislators have rejected their resolution in a 328-278 vote, with the result announced in a salvo of applause.

@Europarl_EN decides to support structural greenwashing. Credibilty of the #EUTaxonomy – a core element of the #EUGreenDeal – is gone.

With that, EU and its Member States set a disastrous example for the urgently needed transformation of our financial systems. https://t.co/qE5bbH9hyU

— Florian Titze (@FlorianTitze) July 6, 2022

The green labeling system from the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, defines what qualifies as an investment in sustainable energy. Under certain conditions, gas and nuclear energy will now be part of the mix, making it easier for private investors to inject money into both.

Greenpeace says it will submit a formal request for internal review to the European Commission, and then take legal action at the European Court of Justice if the result isn’t conclusive.

“It’s dirty politics and it’s an outrageous outcome to label gas and nuclear as green and keep more money flowing to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war chest, but now we will fight this in the courts,” says Ariadna Rodrigo, Greenpeace’s EU sustainable finance campaigner.

Protests that had started yesterday continued today outside the EU legislature as lawmakers debated the issue.

One argument for rejecting the proposal is that it will boost Russian gas sales at a time when it is invading neighboring Ukraine, but the European Commission said it had received a letter from the Ukrainian government backing its stance.

The EU is trying to wean itself off its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, and member countries have already agreed to ban 90% of Russian oil by year-end. Before the war in Ukraine, it relied on Russia for 25% of its oil and 40% of its natural gas.