The European Parliament on Wednesday backed European Union rules putting a “green” label on nuclear and natural gas investments, a decision that will ease construction of infrastructure for those power sources over the objections of some environmentalists and members of the bloc.
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The vote paves the way for the EU proposal to become law and will add gas and nuclear plants to the EU “taxonomy” rulebook from 2023, which seeks to guide spending toward projects in line with the bloc’s climate goals. The action comes as Europe tries to cut its dependence on Russian fossil fuels amid the war in Ukraine and lean on nuclear and natural gas to help bridge a transition to renewable energy.
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Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger praised the move as good for energy security and the bloc’s goal of reaching carbon neutrality — that is, adding no more carbon to the atmosphere than is removed by other means — by 2050.
“We’ll remain on the way to climate neutrality by 2050,” he wrote on Twitter.
Still, the effort has prompted intense backlash from some member states, including Austria and Luxembourg, as well as environmental group Greenpeace, which all said Wednesday that they plan to challenge the decision in court.
Shortly after the Wednesday vote, Luxembourgish Energy Minister Claude Turmes said on Twitter that the Luxembourgish government and Austria will follow through with an earlier threat to “press legal charges,” adding that he “deeply regret[s]” the ruling.
I deeply regret that today @Europarl_EN failed to object to the delegated act under the #EUTaxonomy, allowing #gas & #nuclear to be part of the EU sustainable finance policy. ??& ?? will press legal charges and the Court will rule about its legality #CJEU @lgewessler pic.twitter.com/J0cNHw4Fsg
— Claude Turmes (@ClaudeTurmes) July 6, 2022
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“This will delay a desperately needed real sustainable transition and deepen our dependency on Russian fuels,” climate activist Greta Thunberg wrote on Twitter. “The hypocrisy is striking, but unfortunately not surprising.”
The EU taxonomy rules are meant to ensure that any investments marketed as green or eco-friendly meet certain requirements. The decision to add nuclear and natural gas could make it more attractive to build out facilities for those power sources.
