Greenpeace to sue EU for labelling natural gas and nuclear as green energy

Independent global campaigner Greenpeace says it will sue the European Commission in the European Court of Justice over its decision to include natural gas and nuclear energy on the “EU’s list of sustainable investments”.

PHOTO: Greenpeace protest outside the European Commission building in Brussels, Belgium. Greenpeace

Greenpeace requested the Commission in September last year to review its decision, but the request was rejected, the campaigner says.

It argues that the Commission has violated climate laws and the EU’s obligations under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement by including gas and nuclear energy on the list of sustainable investments.

“We will fight this fake green label in court,” Greenpeace EU sustainable finance campaigner Ariadna Rodrigo says.

Greenpeace plans to file the lawsuit in April and argues that the carbon dioxide emissions limits for gas generation plants are too low and not in line with the EU’s taxonomy regulation and the Paris agreement.

The EU taxonomy regulation describes a framework for classifying economic activities in the EU as green or sustainable.

In addition, Greenpeace claims that nuclear energy investments do not comply with the taxonomy regulation because of the lifecycle emissions and generation of radioactive wastes.

Moreover, “investments in nuclear energy take so long to come online that they would both delay the phase-out of coal plants and hinder the development of renewables,” it says.

By Shilpa Sharma

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