A senior MEP said the vote was a “dark day for the climate”, while experts said the EU had set a dangerous precedent for countries to follow. The row began late last year with the leak of long-awaited details of the EU’s green investment guide, intended to help investors pour billions into the clean energy transition. The European Commission has decided that certain natural gas and nuclear power projects could be included in the EU’s classification of environmentally sustainable economic activities, under certain conditions. According to the plans, gas can qualify as a sustainable investment if “the same energy capacity cannot be produced with renewables” and there are plans to switch to renewables or “low-carbon gases”. Nuclear power can be called green if a project promises to deal with radioactive waste. The plan could only be stopped by a majority of EU member states or members of the European Parliament. With most EU governments in favour, attention turned to the European Parliament, but on Wednesday MEPs failed to muster a suspension majority. Only 282 MEPs voted in favor of an amendment against the inclusion of natural gas and nuclear power, short of the 353 votes needed to overturn the decision. Bas Eickhout, vice-chairman of the European Parliament’s environment committee, said it was a “dark day for the climate and energy transition”. The veteran Dutch MEP, who led parliament in intra-EU negotiations on the classification regulation, said the EU was “sending a devastating message to investors and the rest of the world” that it recognizes fossil gas and nuclear as viable investments. “By paving the way for this delegated act, the EU will have reliable and green conditions for green investments in the energy sector,” he said. Svitlana Krakovska, a Ukrainian climatologist and member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said: “I am in shock. Russia’s war against Ukraine is a war paid for by climate-warming fossil fuels, and the European Parliament just voted to boost Russian fossil gas funding by billions. How does this actually fit with Europe’s stance to protect our planet and stand by Ukraine?” Johanne Schroeten, policy adviser at climate thinktank E3G, said: “Vested interests seem to have got the upper hand. The EU has now set a dangerous precedent of low ambition for other countries and jurisdictions to follow.” The deal came after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised Emmanuel Macron that France could get the green seal of approval for nuclear projects, prompting gas-consuming countries to demand a similar concession. The campaigns are now pledging to take legal action. WWF said that with fellow NGO Client Earth it would “explore all possible avenues for further action to stop this greenwashing and protect the credibility of the entire EU taxonomy”. Two anti-nuclear states, Austria and Luxembourg, have already announced they will refer the panel to the European Court of Justice. But the proposals have strong supporters. Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, tweeted that he welcomed the “positive results”, adding: “I am pleased that Romania’s continued efforts to consider gas and nuclear as part of progressive decarbonisation have been reflected in its final decision FROM”. The EU classification became law in July 2020, but lawmakers left important details to be worked out through so-called delegated acts – secondary legislation reserved for technical issues. Critics now wonder how such highly controversial plans could get through a form of legislative process with few hurdles and less scrutiny. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST Activists’ fears were fueled when Russia’s energy minister, Nikolai Sulginov, said the EU’s green classification offered “a number of opportunities”. Speaking to the website Energy Intelligence ahead of his country’s invasion of Ukraine, he said the inclusion of natural gas in the green classification was proof that the EU had realized it had made “a slight mistake” in the green transition. Since the invasion, the EU executive has drawn up plans to phase out Russian gas, but member states have not set a deadline to stop gas imports, unlike Russian oil and coal. Ukrainian MP Inna Sovsun tweeted: “Putin is rubbing his hands in glee today,” adding that MEPs who voted for or abstained on the inclusion of natural gas and nuclear in the green classification gave the Russian president “huge gifts ». He said: “Thank you to the brave 278 MEPs who spoke out. It wasn’t enough, but we won’t stop fighting.”
