Not only the federal government is appalled by the EU taxonomy, which also classifies natural gas and nuclear power as green and sustainable. This Friday the statements of the governments of the 27 EU states are to be received in Brussels. And then Brussels will certainly take another look at the taxonomy. But is there still something to prevent?
“There’s not much left to do,” says SZ editor Michael Bauchmüller. The problem dates back a few years. At that time, the EU Parliament allowed that this path was chosen at all via a “delegated legal act”. This put everything in the hands of the EU Commission. Ultimately, the Germans came to terms with natural gas and the French with nuclear power. “The two most powerful states in Europe have prevailed, each with their own interests.” As absurd as that is.
From the point of view of the AkW friends, nuclear power definitely keeps harmful emissions at a low level. “But if you look at the entire value chain, it’s really damn difficult to see it as sustainable.” Basically, instead of these transitional technologies, new power plants are needed that would actually generate regenerative energy. This requires the more efficient use of wind and solar power and power plants that can also store this energy.
In the long run, Bauchmüller believes “that we will export renewable energies abroad much more often than nuclear power from abroad to Germany”. Of course there will be years when things will be different. “But I think it would be a big mistake to ridicule the energy transition as a whole.”
More news: Blinken meets Lavrov, millionaires want higher taxes, 100,000 new corona infections.
How to subscribe to our news podcast
“To the point” is the SZ news podcast with the most important topics of the day. The podcast appears Monday through Friday at 5 p.m. You can find all the episodes on sz.de/nachrichtenpodcast. Don’t miss an episode and subscribe to our audio offer, for example at: iTunes, Spotify, deezer, AudioNow or in your favorite podcast app. In this text we explain how you can listen to our podcasts. You can find all of our podcasts at: www.sz.de/podcast.
You have any questions or suggestions? Then write to us: [email protected].