The Platform on Sustainable Finance has published a joint opinion [1], in which experts openly question the legality of the inclusion of fossil gas and nuclear energy as ‘environmentally sustainable’ in the EU Taxonomy, as planned in a complementary delegated act that the Commission is circulating [2].

Experts advise that an ‘extended taxonomy’ be created to account for activities that are not sustainable, but do generate fewer emissions (the ‘amber zone’). This category would include any power generation system whose direct emissions are above 100 g CO2/kWh but do not exceed 270 g CO2/kWh, as they would be considered as not doing ‘significant harm to the environment’.

Mathilde Crêpy, Senior Programme Manager, ECOS – Environmental Coalition on Standards

The Commission’s proposal considers fossil gas and nuclear to be green energy sources. The decision to consider fossil gas and nuclear to be sustainable energy sources is a disaster for the environment and for science, and legally a breach of the Taxonomy Regulation. We urge the Commission to stop bowing to the gas and nuclear lobbies, and to end the institutional greenwashing of environmentally harmful energy activities’. 

Background notes: 

On 31 December, the European Commission circulated a proposal for a new complementary delegated act on the EU Taxonomy for consultation to Member States and the Platform on Sustainable Finance, of which ECOS is a member. The Commission proposed that gas and nuclear energies become part of the list of investments that the European Union officially considers as sustainable.

On 9 December, the European Union adopted a first delegated act on the taxonomy, establishing a technology-limit at 100g CO2/kWh for electricity and heat production to be sustainable; and a second limit at 270h CO2/kWh, above which activities are to be considered as causing ‘significant harm to the environment’. These limits were rightly set, in line with science. [3]

However, if gas and nuclear were to be added to this list, the Taxonomy would be seriously undermined.
 

Notes to editors: 

[1] Opinion by Platform on Sustainable Finance regarding the Commission’s complementary delegated act https://ecostandard.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Platform-draft-CDA-response-21Jan22.pdf

[2] Leaked complementary delegated act https://michaelbloss.eu/de/presse/themenhintergrund/kommissionschefin-zerstoert-glaubwuerdigkeit-der-gruenen-eu-taxonomie-mit-atom-gas?file=files/upload/dokumente/Allgemeine%20Dokumente/EU%20Taxonomy%20Draft%20-%2031.%20Dec%202021.pdf

[3] ECOS – Environmental Coalition on Standards, press release. EU sets technology-neutral threshold for ‘sustainable’ energy production ‘in line with science’, but gas threat remains. https://ecostandard.org/news_events/eu-sets-technology-neutral-threshold-for-sustainable-energy-production-in-line-with-science-but-gas-threat-remains/

For further background, please read our analysis after Commission’s proposal in April 2021. EU climate taxonomy: the good, the bad, and the ugly. https://ecostandard.org/news_events/good-bad-ugly-taxonomy/

Contact points at ECOS: 

Mathilde Crêpy, senior programme manager at ECOS – mathilde.crepy@ecostandard.org 

Ivo Cabral, press manager at ECOS – ivo.cabral@ecostandard.org – +32 2 893 08 30