EU Parliament: Gas and nuclear receive eco-labels

The EU Parliament has approved the classification of gas and nuclear as sustainable. At the beginning of February, the EU Commission presented plans to include the two forms of energy, nuclear and gas, in the taxonomy regulation.

The European Parliament has cleared the way for investments in natural gas and nuclear power to be classified as sustainable under certain conditions. The so-called taxonomy rules for the financial market should therefore take effect from 2023. The taxonomy is a classification system designed to guide private investment in sustainable economic activities to help fight climate change.

The implementation of the Commission’s proposal can still be prevented if at least 20 EU states, representing at least 65 percent of the total population of the EU, join forces by July 11th. However, given the interest of many states in the use of nuclear power, it is considered impossible that a corresponding majority will be achieved in the Council of the EU.

Before the vote, environmentalists had urged MEPs to vote against the new taxonomy act. Among other things, they criticize the fact that greenhouse gases are emitted when energy is generated using natural gas.

In the case of nuclear power, the main problem is the waste, but also possible accidents.