Greenpeace e.V.
Luxembourg/Hamburg (ots)
Greenpeace Germany today filed a lawsuit against the EU Commission together with seven other Greenpeace country offices. The environmental protection organization is complaining to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg that climate-damaging gas-fired power plants and risky nuclear reactors have been declared as sustainable investments since the beginning of 2023. In front of the European Court of Justice, environmentalists are demonstrating this morning with banners against the controversial greenwashing. “The EU Commission must not disguise the problem as a solution. Nuclear and gas cannot be sustainable. That is why Greenpeace is going to court,” says Nina Treu, Managing Director of Greenpeace Germany. “Green money must not be misused for industries that led us to the natural and climate crisis. It must flow into renewable energies and the sustainable conversion to a social-ecological economy.”
Similar to a green label, the so-called EU taxonomy wants to enable investors to better classify sustainable financial products in order to direct funds into sustainable, climate-friendly sectors. However, under pressure from the gas and nuclear lobby, the EU Commission has decided that since the beginning of 2023 certain gas and nuclear power plants will also be considered green. In addition to the Greenpeace lawsuit on nuclear and gas, a coalition of ClientEarth, WWF EU, BUND and Transport & Environment is now filing a lawsuit focusing on fossil gas.
Energy transition funds flow into fossil power plants
A team led by climate lawyer Dr. Roda Verheyen is representing Greenpeace in the proceedings. “With the lawsuit, we are showing that the EU Commission simply does not have the authority of the EU legislator to label fossil gas and nuclear power as sustainable,” said Verheyen. “The EU Commission is thus even violating the basic idea of the taxonomy regulation: Only very few technologies should then receive the green label – and nuclear power in particular is neither an aid in the transition to greenhouse gas neutrality nor free from significant environmental risks.”
Greenpeace criticizes that the inclusion of gas and nuclear in the taxonomy gives fossil gas and nuclear power plants access to funds that would otherwise flow into renewable energies. For example, shortly after adding nuclear power to the EU taxonomy in July 2022, French power producer Electricité de France announced that it would finance the maintenance of its old and poorly maintained nuclear reactors by issuing green bonds aligned with the taxonomy .
Press contact:
Attention editors: Questions to Nina Treu please call 0151-10667012 or [email protected], questions to Roda Verheyen please call 0171-8780830 or [email protected]. All information on the Greenpeace lawsuit can be found at . Photos from the protest in Luxembourg from late morning below .
Original content from: Greenpeace eV, transmitted by news aktuell
