Agent Green condemns the inclusion of nuclear and gas energy in the Green Taxonomy

Brussels, 8 February 2022 – Last week, the European Commission presented the Complementary Delegated Act, which provides for including electricity generation from natural gas and nuclear sources as sustainable technologies covered by the new Green Taxonomy.

The EU Platform on Sustainable Finance, for which Agent Green supplied one of the 57 expert members selected from across the EU [1], categorically opposed this proposal. The expert group’s analysis shows the inefficiency of gas-fired power plants, with even the best-performing plant having a significant negative climate impact, while the Commission will declare 1.4 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent emitted over the lifetime of new gas-fired plants to be “sustainable”. Nuclear energy also fails the taxonomy’s do-no-harm test.

The response setting out the Platform’s arguments against gas and nuclear energy, to which Agent Green contributed, can be found HERE (PDF in English)

Regarding this Complementary Delegated Act, Gabriel Paun, president of Agent Green, said:

“There is nothing green about nuclear energy or energy produced from gas. The European Commission has taken account only of the views of the industry that caused the climate crisis and is avoiding science. This attitude worries me. If Europe takes this direction, it will fail to meet its climate-neutrality objective and expose its citizens to incalculable risks.”

Dr Theodor Cojoianu, professor of Sustainable Finance at the University of Edinburgh and Agent Green’s representative on the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance, said:

“The purpose of the European Union’s Green Taxonomy is to clarify the list of economic activities that contribute to achieving one or more of the European Union’s 6 environmental objectives. Putting 1.4 billion tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere and declaring them climate-sustainable is not only anti-scientific, but also detrimental to sustainable capital markets and the many actors who want an ambitious green standard that directs capital towards truly sustainable technologies. The EU Taxonomy is becoming a tool of the fossil-fuel industry rather than a scientific tool to help us reach our objective of a net-zero climate impact in 2050. Our children are watching us closely, and I believe the Commission’s decision will be judged harshly by the next generation.”

[1] List of members of the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance – https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/business_economy_euro/banking_and_finance/documents/eu-platform-on-sustainable-finance-members_en.pdf

Contact:
Dr Theodor COJOIANU, +44 744 9594253, theodor.cojoianu@agentgreen.org