Following a year-long institutional debate and fierce discussion between EU member states, on February 2nd the European Commission moved to label nuclear and gas as “green” sources of energy.
The reasoning is that these energy sources could play an important role in transition to net zero. EU officials were keen to stress also that the draft rules do not impose a requirement to invest in gas or nuclear. Critics have, however, argued this is “greenwashing” – precisely what the EU Taxonomy was created to avoid. A number of EU governments have threatened legal action. And NGOs have already taken action against other Taxonomy rules – such as on bioenergy and bioplastics.
Please click here to read the full alert memorandum.