Berliner Boersenzeitung - Brussels weathers backlash over calling gas and nuclear sustainable

EUR -
AED 4.309508
AFN 80.781552
ALL 97.370238
AMD 450.366626
ANG 2.099834
AOA 1075.906156
ARS 1493.577732
AUD 1.787447
AWG 2.114267
AZN 1.992805
BAM 1.952188
BBD 2.367829
BDT 143.364713
BGN 1.952329
BHD 0.442219
BIF 3495.36185
BMD 1.173289
BND 1.498347
BOB 8.104004
BRL 6.480538
BSD 1.172735
BTN 101.293563
BWP 15.672998
BYN 3.837915
BYR 22996.462534
BZD 2.355651
CAD 1.604777
CDF 3389.631588
CHF 0.934763
CLF 0.02842
CLP 1114.917818
CNY 8.393689
CNH 8.411755
COP 4779.697409
CRC 592.012089
CUC 1.173289
CUP 31.092156
CVE 110.060402
CZK 24.533945
DJF 208.624842
DKK 7.46403
DOP 71.159234
DZD 151.879696
EGP 57.556817
ERN 17.599334
ETB 161.755051
FJD 2.631393
FKP 0.867546
GBP 0.871625
GEL 3.179596
GGP 0.867546
GHS 12.255322
GIP 0.867546
GMD 84.476756
GNF 10174.259906
GTQ 9.000345
GYD 245.355985
HKD 9.208634
HNL 30.708568
HRK 7.52688
HTG 153.897845
HUF 396.170405
IDR 19162.858366
ILS 3.941828
IMP 0.867546
INR 101.596378
IQD 1536.257255
IRR 49410.122829
ISK 142.109196
JEP 0.867546
JMD 187.764954
JOD 0.831839
JPY 173.465486
KES 151.587053
KGS 102.431291
KHR 4699.3842
KMF 491.018813
KPW 1055.939086
KRW 1621.743342
KWD 0.358193
KYD 0.977287
KZT 636.549394
LAK 25280.220587
LBP 105077.009581
LKR 353.955029
LRD 235.135898
LSL 20.673245
LTL 3.464417
LVL 0.709711
LYD 6.329315
MAD 10.53291
MDL 19.719678
MGA 5170.49843
MKD 61.446298
MMK 2463.337809
MNT 4208.926987
MOP 9.482154
MRU 46.640291
MUR 53.278618
MVR 18.06468
MWK 2033.563021
MXN 21.77775
MYR 4.957132
MZN 75.043516
NAD 20.672658
NGN 1792.985054
NIO 43.160502
NOK 11.926793
NPR 162.072168
NZD 1.953398
OMR 0.451131
PAB 1.17273
PEN 4.170183
PGK 4.931916
PHP 67.069862
PKR 333.201931
PLN 4.251356
PYG 8783.783609
QAR 4.287729
RON 5.07354
RSD 117.096602
RUB 93.420739
RWF 1695.184842
SAR 4.401525
SBD 9.72081
SCR 17.225578
SDG 704.555754
SEK 11.188583
SGD 1.502572
SHP 0.922021
SLE 26.927338
SLL 24603.28632
SOS 670.268281
SRD 42.931228
STD 24284.711468
STN 24.454956
SVC 10.260969
SYP 15256.139553
SZL 20.655778
THB 37.993446
TJS 11.141032
TMT 4.118244
TND 3.418275
TOP 2.747962
TRY 47.583823
TTD 7.970218
TWD 34.613183
TZS 3006.554009
UAH 48.99736
UGX 4208.212974
USD 1.173289
UYU 46.903408
UZS 14967.303972
VES 141.115448
VND 30669.771971
VUV 140.181839
WST 3.211864
XAF 654.753791
XAG 0.030178
XAU 0.000351
XCD 3.170872
XCG 2.113589
XDR 0.814304
XOF 654.748221
XPF 119.331742
YER 282.703684
ZAR 20.81428
ZMK 10561.013911
ZMW 27.352503
ZWL 377.798549
  • SCU

    0.0000

    12.72

    0%

  • CMSC

    0.0000

    22.43

    0%

  • NGG

    -0.4200

    72.23

    -0.58%

  • RIO

    -0.7900

    63.83

    -1.24%

  • AZN

    0.6800

    73.68

    +0.92%

  • CMSD

    -0.0400

    22.85

    -0.18%

  • GSK

    0.2000

    38.23

    +0.52%

  • BTI

    0.2500

    52.62

    +0.48%

  • SCS

    -0.1700

    10.51

    -1.62%

  • RBGPF

    7.0000

    75

    +9.33%

  • RYCEF

    -0.2600

    13.24

    -1.96%

  • BCC

    -1.9200

    86.43

    -2.22%

  • JRI

    -0.0600

    13.15

    -0.46%

  • BP

    -0.5800

    32.13

    -1.81%

  • BCE

    -0.1700

    24.43

    -0.7%

  • VOD

    0.2200

    11.52

    +1.91%

  • RELX

    0.6200

    53.71

    +1.15%

Brussels weathers backlash over calling gas and nuclear sustainable
Brussels weathers backlash over calling gas and nuclear sustainable

Brussels weathers backlash over calling gas and nuclear sustainable

The European Commission on Wednesday defied angry dissent from EU governments and protests from green campaigners to give a sustainable finance label to investments in both gas and nuclear power.

Text size:

Austria warned it will go to court to try to halt the measure, while Germany -- which backed the inclusion of gas -- called extending the labelling to nuclear "unacceptable".

Critics of nuclear energy point to the threat posed by accidents and nuclear waste, while opponents of gas want to discourage investment in a fossil fuel technology they say only adds to the climate change crisis.

But the EU executive, under pressure from nuclear-powered France and gas-reliant Germany, argues that both have a role to play as cleaner power sources during the transition to a net-zero carbon future.

The decision "may be imperfect, but it is a real solution," EU commissioner Mairead McGuinness said.

While the EU is aiming for renewable energy to secure its low-carbon ambitions, she stressed that "we do not have the capacity for that yet -- but we still need to act urgently with all the means at our disposal".

The commission's announcement on Wednesday makes the labelling a done deal, unless a supermajority of EU countries, or a majority in the European Parliament, block it. Insiders said that was unlikely.

The controversy around the issue reflected the fact that EU countries each have very different energy mixes, and while they agree on climate change fighting goals they do not want to see disproportionate pain fall upon them to get there.

EU heavyweights Germany and France each rallied other member states around their respective backing of gas and nuclear.

But Germany -- which relies on Russia for most of its imported gas -- was scathing on nuclear being included in the labelling exercise, which Brussels calls its "taxonomy".

"Germany is clearly and unequivocally against the inclusion of nuclear power in the taxonomy," German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke said.

"Nuclear power is anything but sustainable," she said, calling its inclusion "a major mistake that will... endanger our climate targets".

Austrian Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler -- whose Alpine country produces most of its energy from hydropower -- was also critical, but of both nuclear and gas.

"The decision is wrong because it endangers the future... We are giving our children a backpack full of problems... It's irresponsible," she said.

Before the announcement, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden jointly signed a letter firmly opposing has projects as "largely incompatible" with the goals of the Paris climate agreement.

- 'Attempted robbery' -

In a sign of the hurdles faced by the commission in pushing through the labelling text, agreement among the EU's 27 member states was not unanimous. A vote had to be held before the announcement.

Green activists, too, expressed outrage.

Greenpeace sustainable finance campaigner Ariadna Rodrigo said: "I'd like to report an attempted robbery, please.

"Someone is trying to take billions of euro away from renewables and sink them into technologies that either do nothing to fight the climate crisis, like nuclear, or which actively make the problem worse, like fossil gas."

But McGuinness defended the decision, and argued that the plan imposes safeguards on how nuclear and gas projects are conducted under sustainable finance rules.

The fight over the European Union's classification of power sources is the latest dust-up in discussions between the member states on how to achieve a net zero-carbon economy by 2050.

Brussels had high hopes that the EU would help set a global standard on determining sustainable projects and direct big flows of Wall Street money towards saving the planet.

To win the label, gas and nuclear projects are subject to constraints: projects must be approved by 2030 and 2045 respectively, as well as meet a long list of sector-specific criteria.

(B.Hartmann--BBZ)