The European Commission will adapt the EU taxonomy and plans to still largely label aircraft and ships that run on fossil fuels as “green”. The NGOs “Protect Our Winters Austria”, “CLAW” and others are now officially fighting together against this and are considering involving the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ).
New EU taxonomy: Green investment labels easier to obtain
The EU taxonomy is a classification system developed by the European Union to assess economic activities in terms of their environmental impact. The Commission wants to change the technical criteria so that airlines and cruise lines can be awarded a green investment label for significantly sustainable activities. The NGOs “Protect Our Winters Austria” and “CLAW” together with three other NGOs (Fossielvrij, Dryade and Opportunity Green) announced that they wanted to fight against this because they clearly do not see the financing of ships and aircraft powered by fossil fuels as “green ” See investment. In their opinion, the EU taxonomy criteria would be changed so that only “weak efficiency criteria” would have to be met or it would be sufficient to fly with a small proportion of green aviation fuels (Sustainable Aviation Fuels – SAF).
Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air would become “best-in-class”.
All new aircraft models that low-cost airlines such as Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air invest in when purchasing new aircraft would be considered “best-in-class” with the new regulation. 90 percent of Airbus’ current aircraft orders do the same. Large cruise ships like the MSC World Europa run on liquefied natural gas (LNG). They would also be considered “sustainable” after the change in the EU taxonomy.
CLAW – Climate Law Initiative and the other NGOs have submitted a request calling on the European Commission to re-examine the classification of aviation and shipping as a “sustainable investment”. According to CLAW, the new regulation would threaten the authenticity of the EU taxonomy as the “gold standard” for sustainable investments. If the application is unsuccessful, the NGOs will be forced to challenge the decision before the ECJ.
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This is what the NGOs argue
According to the NGOs, the new taxonomy regulation would ensure that climate-damaging aircraft and ship types that have a lifespan of 20-50 years will continue to be operated for decades to come. This seriously endangers the EU’s climate targets for 2030 and 2050.
“The EU taxonomy is crucial to ensuring that private finance flows into sustainable activities at scale. However, specifications that are too ‘weak’ only promote climate-damaging ‘business as usual’, as happened in the case of the technical criteria for air and shipping traffic. We cannot afford for greenhouse gas-intensive activities to be promoted and cemented in place for decades to come. The Commission now has the chance to eliminate these illegalities as requested. If it doesn’t do this, the ECJ will have the final say on the matter,” says Florian Graber from CLAW, the initiative for climate law.
EU position: No classification of “good” and “bad” companies
With the changed criteria of the EU taxonomy, the EU Commission wants to ensure that companies and the financial sector continue to be supported while at the same time promoting private financing of transition projects and technologies. The new regulations are intended to increase transparency in the sustainable investment market. It also states in its press release that the sustainable finance framework benefits companies that want to invest in their transition to sustainability. But at the same time it says:
“The EU taxonomy is not a label for green financial products. This is planned by the EU Ecolabel for green financial products and the EU Green Bond Standard. It also does not contain an obligation to invest in green financial products, but rather an obligation to disclose taxonomy-relevant information. The EU taxonomy also does not classify “good” and “bad” companies.”
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