The European Commission’s draft delegated act on the inclusion of fossil gas and nuclear energy in the EU taxonomy will be adopted on 2 February, European Commission chief spokesman Eric Mamer said on Tuesday 1 February, confirming unofficial reports (see EUROPE 12877/26).
This draft delegated act, which was submitted to EU Member States on 31 December 2021, provides for nuclear and fossil gas to be classified in the taxonomy as “transitional” activities and under certain conditions (see EUROPE 12860/1).
This is a proposal that divides not only the Member States and MEPs, but also the College of Commissioners.
The Austrian Commissioner for Budget and Administration, Johannes Hahn, recently threatened to oppose the delegated act if nuclear power remains in the text.
The College meeting on Wednesday could therefore be lively!
According to information gathered by EUROPE, the Commissioners’ chiefs of cabinet made further adjustments to the text at their meeting on Tuesday morning to reinforce the transitional aspect of nuclear and fossil gas as energy sources needed to meet the EU’s climate goals.
Once the delegated act has been adopted by the Commission, the European Parliament and the EU Council will have four months (six if they request an extension) to possibly object to it.
Member States remain divided
On Monday, four EU Member States (Austria, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands) sent a letter to the European Commission asking it to exclude fossil gas from the taxonomy “as long as these activities are not subject to the same (emission) standards as other energy technologies (covered by the taxonomy), namely the 100 gram CO2 e/kWh threshold ”.
Their positions on nuclear power, on the other hand, differ.
Along with Finland, Sweden sent another letter to the Commission on Tuesday 1 February, calling on it to relax the conditions for the inclusion of nuclear power, notably by removing the time limits for new and existing nuclear installations.
Like some MEPs (see EUROPE 12872/5), Helsinki and Stockholm also regretted the lack of public consultation and the lack of time given to Member States (around 20 days) to analyse the draft text.
See the letter from the four Member States: https://aeur.eu/f/42
See the letter from Finland and Sweden: https://aeur.eu/f/43 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)