The environmental organisation WWF said it was alarmed, in early November, by a non-paper sent to the European Commission on European taxonomy as the EU institution prepares, by the end of the year, a second delegated act complementing the first delegated act intended to clarify the taxonomy regulation (see EUROPE 12806/17).
“This proposal is a scientific disgrace that would deal a fatal blow to the taxonomy”, said Henry Eviston, speaking on behalf of the organisation, in a statement.
The non-paper, which the Contexte website attributes to the French authorities, describes investments in gas-fired power plants as sustainable: - emitting less than 100 grams of CO2 per kilowatt hour over the entire life cycle of the plant, or; - commissioned before the end of 2030 and emitting less than 340 grams of CO2 per kilowatt hour and, on an annual basis, less than 700 grams of CO2 per kilowatt hour when used to support the production of electricity from renewable sources.
For nuclear power, the paper builds on the Commission’s Joint Research Centre’s study presented in July, which found that nuclear power is sufficiently safe to be eligible for the EU taxonomy (see EUROPE 12754/7).
The document, which does not propose detailed sustainability criteria for nuclear power generation, divides the sector’s activities into four categories: - operation of nuclear power plants; - storage of radioactive waste or spent nuclear fuel; - uranium mining and processing; - reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.
“We need more renewable energy. They are cheaper, carbon-free and local. (...) We also need a stable source, nuclear, and during the transition, of course, natural gas. This is why we will present our proposal for a taxonomy”, said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the end of October after the EU summit (see EUROPE 12818/4). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)