In a statement issued on Friday 4 February, environmental NGO ClientEarth announced that it had filed a request for internal review with the European Commission regarding its decision to classify bioenergy as ‘sustainable’ in the European Union’s taxonomy.
The NGO criticises the Commission for relying on “flawed” standards for the inclusion of biomass in the taxonomy - namely the standards provided for in the recast of the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) - “instead of assessing whether the available scientific evidence on biomass production is conclusive”.
In its view, this approach violates the EU Regulation (2020/852) establishing the taxonomy.
The NGO also challenges the inclusion in the taxonomy of bio-based plastics (plastics made from biomass) and bio-based chemicals, such as ethylene and propylene, used to make plastics.
The European Commission now has 16 weeks to respond to this request for an internal review.
If ClientEarth believes that the response does not rectify the breach of EU law of which it accuses the Commission, the NGO may then take the institution to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
Read the press release: https://aeur.eu/f/6v (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)