Spain and three other countries reject the Brussels proposal to include gas and nuclear in the green taxonomy

The energy ministers of Spain, Austria, Denmark and Luxembourg have sent a letter to the European Commission on Thursday in which they reject their proposal to include gas and nuclear energy within the European green taxonomy, thus setting their position for the informal Council of Energy and Environment Ministers that will take place until Saturday in Amiens (France).

The letter is signed by the Third Vice-President and Minister for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, and her counterparts in Austria, Denmark and Luxembourg, Leonore Gewessler, Dan Jorgensen and Claude Turmes, respectively.

The ministers of the four countries have expressed their “deep concerns” about the Brussels proposal, as it “puts at risk” the energy transition of both the European Union and the rest of the world.

“The draft sends the wrong signal to financial markets and seriously risks being rejected by investors,” warned the holders of the Energy and Environment portfolios. “We emphasize that natural gas and nuclear energy do not meet the legal and scientific requirements embodied in the Taxonomy Regulation to qualify as sustainable economic activities,” they added.

With regard to nuclear, ministers argued that this energy has “extremely high costs”, as well as that radioactive waste goes against the principle of no significant harm present in the taxonomy. In this sense, they have warned of the lack of solutions to manage waste effectively and have recalled the disasters of Chernobyl and Fukushima.

Source: Europe Press