German minister urges overhaul of EU green energy finance rules

Germany’s environment minister called for a complete overall of proposed European Union rules on which types of energy should be labelled as green. This is after Brussels policymakers ignored German objections to the inclusion of nuclear power. The draft EU plan published last year, that would classify investments in some natural gas and nuclear power as environmentally sustainable, has divided opinion in the 27-member EU bloc and among investors.

France, supported the classification of nuclear energy as sustainable. Some in the investment community also say labelling nuclear and natural gas as green investments would aid the low carbon evolution. This is by encouraging financing for facilities to wean countries off the dirtiest fuels, chiefly coal. But Germany, decided to exit nuclear power entirely after Fukushima disaster. Steffi Lemke, a member of the ecologist Greens stated that given the significance of these questions there has to be a public consultation and a proper legislative process. That’s the only way of ensuring adequate involvement by the public, member states and European Parliament.

The set of EU standards, i.e., taxonomy, are meant to standardise disparate approaches to channel investment. This is as the EU seeks to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. Austria and Luxembourg have already mounted legal challenges to the European Commission’s decision. And that still needs to be debated and ratified by EU member states. The EU’s financial markets Commissioner Mairead McGuiness told the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper that there would be no fundamental changes to the taxonomy.