After several months of comings and goings, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has managed to approve this February the draft regulation that will classify nuclear energy and gas as green energies, that is, energies that can serve as a means of transition and, therefore, contribute to the fight against climate change (as well as being worthy of multi-million dollar investments).
Â
controversial decision
Despite the fact that including gas and nuclear energy as green energies contradicts the opinion of the majority of experts, the Spanish Government has reserved the right to apply its own criteria regarding this decision (our country does not agree) that it has to be approved by the European Parliament in the next four months.
Â
What is green taxonomy?
With the objective of meeting the EU’s climate and energy objectives for 2030 and achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal, the European Union is committed to reinforcing the need to redirect important investments towards sustainable projects to make economies, companies and societies, in particular health systems are more resistant to climatic and environmental impacts. From this stems the creation of a common classification system for sustainable economic activities, or an “EU green taxonomy”. The green taxonomy is, therefore, a way for investors and companies to differentiate which projects negatively affect the climate and the environment thanks to the recommendations of experts and scientists.
In this new initiative, sources such as natural gas and nuclear energy have been temporarily included as means of transition towards a future in which renewable energies should predominate.
Â
Â
But are gas and nuclear green?
This is a controversial measure. European lawmakers from across the political spectrum are quite at odds over the European Commission’s refusal to properly consult them on the report labeling gas and nuclear power as a “transitional” energy source. Many claim that it does not follow the initial line of thinking of the European Commission.
Â
COP26 Commitments
The Breakthrough Agenda agreed at COP26 could help trigger positive tipping points to address the climate crisis, researchers say. In fact, at this summit, held in Glasgow in 2021, the leaders of the countries that represent 70% of the world’s GDP committed to “make clean technologies and sustainable solutions the most affordable, accessible and attractive option in each sector global issuer before 2030”.
The essence is to bet on the “green” option as simpler and cheaper instead of focusing exclusively on the idea of reducing emissions specifically.
“The challenges are huge: we need to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and reverse biodiversity loss to make our impact ‘nature positive,'” said Tim Lenton, director of the Global Systems Institute. GSI) at the University of Exeter.
Â
Will this rating help the ultimate goal?
Environmental groups and activists have said that recognizing natural gas, a fossil fuel, as green to begin with would delay desperately needed climate action and undermine the bloc’s credibility as a world leader in fighting the climate emergency. According to some experts, these Brussels plans dilute the sustainability label forged so many years ago.
Austrian Climate Minister Leonore Gewessler said on her Twitter account that the government would be prepared to sue Brussels if the commission’s plans were finally implemented. [Neither nuclear energy nor gas should have any place in the EU taxonomic list] “because they are harmful to the climate and the environment and destroy the future of our children.”
Referencia: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). “Climate change widespread, rapid, and intensifying: IPCC.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 9 August 2021. ipcc.ch/2021/08/09/ar6-wg1-20210809-pr/
Referencia: Lenton, T., Benson, S., Smith, T., Ewer, T., Lanel, V., Petykowski, E., . . . Sharpe, S. (2022). Operationalising positive tipping points towards global sustainability. Global Sustainability, 5, E1. doi:10.1017/sus.2021.30
