In September they took legal action against the “greenwashing of gas and nuclear power”, now it’s really here: the lawsuit by four environmental protection organizations against the EU Commission for including the two forms of energy in the EU taxonomy, which actually aims to do so to promote and finance only “climate-friendly” energy. Legal action is being taken before the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The plaintiffs are the four NGOs WWF, ClientEarth, Transport & Environment and BUND. At the same time, Greenpeace with 8 country offices, including the one in Austria, has also filed a lawsuit against the EU Commission.
The reason for the lawsuit is that fossil gas has been given a “green” label as a “transitional technology” in the energy transition. According to the NGOs, by including natural gas in the taxonomy, the European Union “is not only violating its obligations under the Paris Climate Agreement, it is also in violation of the European climate law and even the taxonomy regulation itself”. The classification of gas as “sustainable” violates the express recommendation of the scientific advisory board involved and is therefore not scientifically founded.
Natural gas is known to be one of the biggest sources of the greenhouse gas CO2 alongside oil and coal and is responsible for around 20 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in Austria. In order for the 4 NGOs to be able to sue, they first had to file an “application for internal review” because, unlike EU member states, they do not have direct access to the ECJ. This review was approved, and the organizations can now sue the EU Commission, which is held responsible for the EU taxonomy, before the ECJ.
Due to Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines, natural gas has become an instrument of power. Germany has responded by building LNG terminals in order to be able to accept liquid gas via tankers – so far there have been no gas bottlenecks. But there are not many who predict a great future for natural gas, more and more is being invested in hydrogen. From the point of view of the complaining NGOs, it is all the more incomprehensible why the EU taxonomy now sees gas as a “green” investment under certain conditions.
Lawsuit against “greenwashing of gas and nuclear” in the EU
Move away from fossil gas & poorly maintained nuclear reactors
“Many financial institutions are already a big step further and have excluded fossil gas from their lending policies – such as the European Investment Bank since 2019. In the global green bond market it is common practice to exclude fossil gas. The EU taxonomy thwarts this development and thus sends a completely wrong signal,” says Jakob Mayr from the WWF. “Europe must above all invest in energy saving programs and nature-friendly renewable energy sources instead of creating new fossil dependencies.”
The EU taxonomy is considered a compromise between German and French interests in energy policy; France pushed for nuclear energy, which is important in the country, while Germany insisted on gas. It is important to know that nuclear and gas only fall under the EU taxonomy if certain conditions are met. Nuclear and gas power plants must demonstrably contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions, otherwise there are no subsidies. Investments in new gas-fired power plants by 2030 are considered “sustainable” if, among other things, they replace dirtier power plants and can be operated entirely with more climate-friendly gases such as hydrogen by 2035.
However, environmentalists are still afraid that money will continue to flow to the criticized energy sources in the future. “For example, shortly after including nuclear power in the EU taxonomy in July 2022, French power producer Electricité de France announced that it intended to fund the maintenance of its old and poorly maintained nuclear reactors by issuing green bonds aligned with the taxonomy” , according to Greenpace.
At the end of 2022, Austria filed a lawsuit with the ECJ against the classification of nuclear power and gas as climate-friendly, as announced by Environmental Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens). The question of gas power plants divides Europe. Luxembourg, Spain and Denmark have also criticized the EU classification, while Poland and Bulgaria defended gas-fired power plants because they could replace coal power.
Gewessler: Austria will sue against “greenwashing of nuclear power”.