Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) The European Parliament is to vote on proposed classification of some natural gas and nuclear power projects as environmentally friendly.
MEPs are to decide on proposed inclusion of such investments into EU’s sustainable taxonomy aimed at directing more private investments towards environmental goals, according to Reuters reporting on Tuesday.
The debate has turned political as the EU discusses plans to wean itself off Russian energy, with MEPs to debate proposed rules for natural gas and nuclear power later today and vote tomorrow.
Green MEP Bas Eickhout stated that proposed rules would facilitate investments in natural gas and nuclear energy at the expense of renewables and expressed belief that the EU has to invest in renewables more to curb CO2 emissions.
His colleague Christian Ehler pointed out that the taxonomy sets out strict limits on emission of CO2 and other environmental criteria to make sure that investments in natural gas are in line with the bloc’s climate goals.
He concluded that it is not clear how the taxonomy will effect energy investments in the future.
Rejection of proposed rules, which would require support from majority of MEPs, would present a blow to the EC, which has been redrafting rules for more than one year amid lobbying from activists and industry representatives.
Controversial topic
While the Commission and supporters of proposed rules point out that strict criteria would separate projects that earn a green label from those that do not, critics say criteria have to be even stricter.
They call on the EC to introduce stricter rules in order to avoid negative effects of climate change and achieve planned targets.
The EC previously proposed stricter criteria for including projects in the green taxonomy, but relaxed them after some EU member states objected.
Frans Timmermans, European Commissioner for Climate Action, stated in an interview earlier this week that he and several other EC members opposed the plan to include natural gas and nuclear in the green taxonomy.
Timmermans stressed that he would have drawn up the rules differently if it was up to him alone, but pointed out that the Commission’s proposal reflects political realities in the EU.
