EU proposed a plan to label gas and nuclear energy 'green' faces opposition
The European Commission has proposed plans to label some gas and
nuclear power as green.
The proposal argues that gas and nuclear are key to helping transition
to cleaner power.
Under the proposal, only gas and nuclear plants with
the highest standards would be considered green. Nuclear plants would also have to have strict waste disposal plans. While gas plants would have a limit of how much
carbon dioxide is released per kilowatt-hour of energy produced.
The
European Commission is expected to propose rules in January deciding whether
gas and nuclear projects will be included in the EU "sustainable finance
taxonomy".
This is
a list of economic activities and the environmental criteria they must meet to
be labelled as green investments.
The EU’s taxonomy
list is a green classification system that helps investors to channel billions
of euros into projects that are seen to be in line with the bloc’s bid to
decarbonize its economy.
This proposal faced opposition from Germany.
France and other pro-nuclear states, such as the Czech
Republic and Hungary, support the inclusion of nuclear, while many governments
in central, eastern and southern Europe lobbied for gas to be included as a “bridge”
fuel.
Germany, Austria and Luxembourg were opposing the plan arguing that it
will increase radioactive waste in future.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/03/fury-eu-moves-ahead-plans-label-gas-nuclear-green
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