Brussels, 14 June 2022
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The entire House is going to vote on whether to veto the Commission proposal during 4-7 July plenary
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Public consultation needed for any new proposals
MEPs in the two responsible committees objected on Tuesday to the inclusion of nuclear and gas in the list of environmentally sustainable economic activities.
In a joint meeting of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee on Tuesday 14 June, MEPs adopted an objection to the Commission’s proposal to include specific nuclear and gas energy activities in the list of environmentally sustainable economic activities covered by the so-called EU Taxonomy, with 76 votes to 62 votes and 4 abstentions.
MEPs recognise the role of nuclear and fossil gas in guaranteeing stable energy supply during the transition to a sustainable economy. But, they consider that the technical screening standards proposed by the Commission, in its delegated regulation, to support their inclusion do not respect the criteria for environmentally sustainable economic activities as set out in Article 3 of the Taxonomy Regulation.
The resolution adopted by MEPs also requests that any new or amended delegated acts should be subject to a public consultation and impact assessments, as they could have significant economic, environmental and social impacts.
Member states continue to be free to decide on their energy mix and investors may continue to invest as they wish, as there is no obligation on investors to invest solely in economic activities that meet specific criteria.
Next steps
The resolution is scheduled for a vote during Parliament’s plenary session of 4-7 July 2022. Parliament and Council have until 11 July 2022 to decide whether to veto the Commission’s proposal. If an absolute majority of MEPs (353) objects to the Commission’s proposal, the Commission will have to withdraw or amend it.
Background
The Taxonomy regulation is part of the Commission’s action plan on financing sustainable growth and aims to boost green investments and prevent ‘greenwashing’. The complementary Taxonomy Delegated Act was put forward by the Commission on 9 March 2022 and proposes the inclusion, under certain conditions, of specific nuclear and gas energy activities in the list of environmentally sustainable economic activities covered by the EU taxonomy.
The new Delegated Act classifies certain fossil gas and nuclear energy activities as transitional activities contributing to climate change mitigation under Article 10(2) of the Taxonomy Regulation. The inclusion of certain gas and nuclear activities would be time-limited and dependent on specific conditions and transparency requirements.
S&Ds: We voted down the Taxonomy Delegated Act. Gas and nuclear cannot be labelled either green or sustainable
14 June 2022
At a joint voting session today, the Environment and Economic and monetary affairs committees in the European Parliament voted in favour of a resolution that objects to the EU Commission’s Taxonomy Complementary Delegated Act. MEPs thereby stated their rejection of the Commission proposal.
The Socialists and Democrats Group has vocally called on the Commission to revise its position, sending a letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and to the Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, Mairead McGuinness, expressing our opposition to the labelling of gas and nuclear-based energy production as taxonomy compliant.
We still believe the EU taxonomy should fulfil its ambition to be the global ‘gold standard’ for sustainable finance and pave the way to the EU’s alignment with the Paris Agreement. The proposed Complementary Delegated Act falls short on both goals. Our firm opposition will be also confirmed in the final vote next month in plenary.
S&D vice-president and shadow rapporteur in the environment committee, Simona Bonafè MEP, said:
“Gas and nuclear might still be necessary to meet energy needs and still useful in the transition to a climate neutral EU. However, gas and nuclear are certainly neither green nor sustainable. Hence, we had no choice but to vote against labelling them as taxonomy compliant. We have been constantly insisting on this to the EU Commission and have spoken openly and clearly about gas and nuclear being non-compliant. The environment and economy committees have now jointly voted against the Taxonomy Complementary Delegated Act as a first positive step, still eventually to be confirmed by the vote in Strasbourg next month.
“The Taxonomy Complementary Delegated Act proposed by the European Commission has not only missed the target of creating trust and transparency for investors, but also risks jeopardising the EU’s future energy system and our common effort to fight the climate crisis. For this reason our Group have been strongly advocating in the past month for the creation of a dedicated Amber Category.
“Including gas and nuclear among taxonomy-compliant economic activities is, in other words, the wrong political message, both from an environmental and economic prospective.”
S&D shadow rapporteur in the economic affairs committee, Paul Tang MEP, explained:
“Today’s vote is a strong message to the Commission. This parliament will not accept institutionalised greenwashing. By rejecting plans to label fossil gas and nuclear energy as green, the committees for the environment and economic affairs spoke out for a sustainable and energy-independent Europe.
“This vote allows us to reduce our dependency on Russian gas and counter our citizens’ skyrocketing energy bills by investing in renewables instead of gas. Most of all, it creates a definition of sustainability that makes sense, both to people and to the financial markets, which have broadly spoken out against a green label for gas and nuclear. Including gas and nuclear in its definition of sustainable investments, also known as the EU taxonomy, would turn the EU from climate leader into climate laggard. Even Russia’s own taxonomy does not label gas as green!
“I trust that a big majority of my colleagues will now follow this line during the vote in the July plenary. Some from the right will still want to undermine the EU’s taxonomy. However, today’s vote gives me hope that they are a minority in this parliament. We do not lend ourselves to rubber-stamping a back-room deal between the European Commission and France.”
Source – S&D (via e-mail)
Greens/EFA on EU Taxonomy: First win against greenwashing
We just took a major step towards stopping the EU taxonomy from labelling fossil gas and nuclear energy as “sustainable”. In a nail-biting vote, the committees for environment and economy in the European Parliament agreed with our objection.
Gas and nuclear aren’t green. Pretending otherwise is greenwashing. It’s that simple.
But we are not there yet. The hardest part is still to come. We need to convince all the Members of the European Parliament to support us for the plenary vote in the first week of July.
In one final push, we need everyone to sign our petition to stop this EU taxonomy.
Source – Greens/EFA (via email)