The European Parliament has just approved the European Commission’s proposed sustainability label for nuclear power and gas in the EU Taxonomy, a classification procedure for sustainable finance (278 votes in favour of the objection to the sustainability label, 328 against and 33 abstained).
Investments in nuclear power and natural gas will thus be classified as sustainable investments for decades to come. Unlike in the ordinary legislative procedure, MEPs can only reject or tacitly approve a delegated act of the Commission. 353 votes would have been needed to adopt the cross-party objection to the Commission proposal.
It is very bitter that the necessary parliamentary majority to prevent the sustainability label for nuclear power and gas was missed. The European Commission has pushed through the greenwashing of climate and environmentally damaging technologies past the proper legislative process, despite numerous scientific and legal concerns. Moreover, last-minute smokescreens about the applicability and meaning of the taxonomy have triumphed over fact-based assessment. Investor confidence in the EU taxonomy has thus been destroyed. I welcome the announcement by Luxembourg and Austria that they will take legal action against the second Delegated Act before the European Court of Justice. Because in the opinion of many lawyers, the Commission has clearly exceeded its powers as laid down in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Image: Jutta Paulus MEP.
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