The European Commission’s intention not to include natural gas in the EU taxonomy appears to have been confirmed, according to a new draft of the first delegated act on the taxonomy obtained by EUROPE on Friday 16 April.
Compared to the previous version, which was the subject of much criticism (see EUROPE 12684/3, 12698/6), the Commission has indeed removed the category dealing with the direct replacement of heating/cooling installations that use solid or liquid fossil fuels (e.g. coal) with systems that use gaseous fuels that are of fossil, renewable or bio-based origin.
The same concerning the direct replacement of cogeneration installations, separate thermal installations or separate electrical installations using solid or liquid fossil fuels by cogeneration and electricity production installations running on gas (of fossil, renewable or bio-based origin).
As previously reported by us, the institution intends to present, in the fourth quarter of 2021, a legislative proposal specifically covering how certain economic activities, mainly in the energy sector, will contribute to decarbonisation. This is in particular so that co-legislators can discuss the contribution of natural gas and nuclear power to decarbonisation objectives (see EUROPE 12699/10).
In addition, the new Commission document emphasises the fact that the cross-cutting threshold of 100g CO2 e/kWh of life-cycle emissions for energy activities is maintained “except where evidence clearly shows relevant technologies to be well below this level”.
EUROPE will continue to follow this story.
The official presentation of the delegated act is scheduled to take place next Wednesday 21 April.
See the new provisional version of the delegated act and its annexes: https://bit.ly/3x4zIRR; https://bit.ly/32noWrK; https://bit.ly/32msg6w (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)