Investments in nuclear power plants and gas plants will form part of the European Union's new catalog of green energies. The plenary session of the European Parliament has endorsed today in Strasbourg the proposal presented in February by the community executive that is committed to recognizing temporary investments in nuclear power plants and gas plants as climate-friendly, as transition technologies to facilitate the energy transition .
The MEPs have distanced themselves from the opinion of the Economy and Environment commissions, which last June rejected the text alleging that although they recognize that both gas and nuclear energy must have a role in the energy transition, the conditions set by the European Commission were not consistent with the criteria for investments in sustainable economic activities detailed in the taxonomy. While 278 have voted in favor of opposing the Brussels proposal, 328 have opposed it and 33 have abstained.
"Betrayal!", has been heard shouting from the guest gallery, where several activists have discovered red t-shirts with the letters of the English word, betrayal. The debate in the European Parliament has attracted hundreds of activists from all over Europe to Strasbourg, who this morning demonstrated in front of the institution's headquarters for and against the proposal. The place of nuclear energy, which hardly produces CO2 emissions but does produce radioactive waste, has been the most divisive issue both on the street and in the offices of the power of the European Union.
Pressured on the one hand by France and several Eastern countries to include atomic energy among green investments and, on the other, by Germany to recognize the role of gas in the energy transition, at the beginning of the year the European Commission gave birth to a proposal that divided to the Government and was received with the announcement of appeals before the Court of Justice of the EU by several member states that consider that it is equivalent to a green facelift or greenwashing.
The new taxonomy aspires to become a guide for the private sector that promotes the financing of sustainable projects that contribute to the decarbonisation of the community economy. Although the experts of the European Commission as well as important private investors discouraged including gas and atomic energy in the catalogue, Brussels insists that it is not giving carte blanche to these investments.
Nuclear energy projects will be considered green if they have received permits before 2045 and are in a country that has a plan and funds to safely dispose of radioactive waste by 2050. As for gas, they will be able to obtain the green label plants that emit less than 270 grams of CO2 per kWh until 2031 or less than 100 grams throughout their useful life.
Half an hour before the vote, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had begged MEPs to carefully consider their vote and warned that she would not present an alternative if it failed. The proposal "is a very fragile compromise, it would be very unfortunate if a decision by the European Parliament forced us to take a step back" when "what we need is to take steps forward in the decarbonisation of our economy and the diversification of our energy sources" .
