Cross-party alliance seeks to block nuclear and gas from EU’s green taxonomy

(EurActiv, 14 Jun 2022) Lawmakers in the European Parliament have formed a cross-party coalition in an attempt to block nuclear energy and fossil gas from receiving a green investment label under the EU’s green finance taxonomy.

The cross-party coalition has put forward an objection against a European Commission proposal, tabled at the end of last year, to include fossil gas and nuclear power in the EU’s list of green investments as “transitional” sources of energy.

The objection was submitted ahead of a vote in the Parliament’s economy and environment committees, which are meeting in a joint session on Tuesday (14 June) to decide their stance on the proposal.

Regardless of the outcome, the motion will then be submitted again for a decisive vote at the Parliament’s July plenary, which will have the final say on the matter.

A simple majority – or at least 353 MEPs – is needed in plenary to kill the proposal and the joint committee vote is seen as a dress rehearsal for this.

“For us, of course, it is not acceptable to qualify gas and nuclear as sustainable and allow the green finances for the future to finance those projects,” said Christophe Hansen, a Luxembourgish lawmaker from the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the largest political group in Parliament.

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EurActiv, 14 Jun 2022: Cross-party alliance seeks to block nuclear and gas from EU’s green taxonomy