Ninety-four NGOs called on the European Commission, on Monday 25 May, to establish “an effective, science-based European taxonomy”. In a joint statement, they outlined ten priorities the European Commission should take (see EUROPE 12453/25) in order to ensure the Taxonomy Delegated Act on climate mitigation fully responds to the climate crisis.
NGOs, including WWF, Transport & Environment and Climate Action Network Europe, call for the criteria suggested by the Technical Expert Group (TEG) on Sustainable Finance in its final recommendations (see EUROPE 12442/14) to be strengthened, particularly for forestry, bioenergy and hydropower, where there is a risk that harmful practices may be considered sustainable.
In their view, the taxonomy should also exclude all trucks, coaches and vessels that can run on diesel or fossil gas, as well as livestock farming activities, for which it is still difficult to assess greenhouse gas emissions.
Nuclear energy, fossil fuels and waste incineration, on the other hand, have rightly been excluded from the taxonomy and should not be reinstated, they warn.
The signatory NGOs also support the TEG's call to supplement this taxonomy of 'green' activities with a taxonomy of 'brown' activities. This would be a crucial tool for them to identify, in a reliable way, the areas of risk and accelerate their transition.
See the joint statement: https://bit.ly/3gkTe4l (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)