Environmental groups critical of European “taxonomy”: “Encouraging investment in natural gas by giving it a green label will only increase the devastating climate impact” | Home

The European Taxonomy is a classification system in which the European Commission tries to define the term ‘sustainability’ as clearly as possible. It is a list of activities that, according to the Commission, have a limited negative impact on the climate crisis. According to Europe, this classification system should therefore help to achieve the proposed climate and energy targets for 2030.

Europe currently has plans to include nuclear energy and natural gas in the taxonomy under certain conditions. For example, nuclear energy will be labeled as sustainable if a project has a concrete plan, funds and a location to remove radioactive waste. The new nuclear power stations must also receive a building permit before 2045. The life extension of the existing nuclear plants is also labeled as a green measure, but the plants must then undergo safety upgrades.

Natural gas plants are then labeled as green if they produce less than 270g CO2 per kilowatt hour. This goes against the advice of the EU advisers, who had recommended that a gas-fired power plant should only be classified as sustainable if it emitted less than 100g of CO2 per kilowatt hour.
Other conditions in the taxonomy are that a gas-fired power plant would have to replace a more polluting fossil fuel plant and receive a construction permit before December 31, 2030.

According to Europe, companies, investors and policymakers should be able to consult the taxonomy to make informed decisions in their fight against the climate crisis. The taxonomy would also create a barrier against greenwashing. Ironically, several environmental organizations accuse the European Commission itself of promoting greenwashing with this classification system. Greenwashing happens when an organization presents itself as more environmentally aware and sustainable than it actually is, often to placate consumers.

According to environmental organization Greenpeace, the fact that the European Commission now plans to include nuclear energy and natural gas in the taxonomy as environmentally conscious energy sources is a safe passage to greenwashing.
“Nuclear energy generates highly radioactive waste and a commercially viable solution has not yet been found. Natural gas is already the main source of greenhouse gas emissions for energy generation in Europe. Encouraging investment in natural gas by giving it a green label will only increase its devastating climate impact,” said Greenpeace.
The organization also fears this choice will thwart the process towards 100% renewable energy, while renewable energy is both cheaper and faster to deploy than natural gas and nuclear power, according to the environmental organization.

WWF has also criticized these plans. “Close your eyes, that seems to be the motto of the European Commission for nuclear energy and natural gas,” says Matthias Kopp, head of sustainable finance at WWF Germany.

More than a year of lobbying and disagreement among member states ultimately led to the European Commission’s decision to include natural gas and nuclear energy in the taxonomy. EU Member States such as France, the Czech Republic and Finland see nuclear energy as a crucial link in the phase-out of fossil fuels. These countries also get more than 70% of their electricity from nuclear energy. Countries such as Luxembourg, Germany and Austria are posing as the opponents of nuclear energy in this debate.

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European Commission wants to classify gas and nuclear energy as green investments