Berlin The Federal Government is clearly opposed to the EU Commission classifying nuclear power as a sustainable energy source, but supports a corresponding classification of gas as a bridging solution, but does not consider the implementation planned to date to be acceptable. This emerges from the German statement on the so-called taxonomy, which is available to the Handelsblatt. It was sent to the Commission on Friday evening.
While there was early agreement on the classification of nuclear energy in Berlin, according to reports from those close to the government, there was a struggle over the positioning of gas until the very end. The statement now states that the use of natural gas is not sustainable in the long term.
“However, for the federal government, fossil gas fuel in ultra-modern and efficient gas-fired power plants forms a bridge for a limited transition period – until the conversion to an energy sector based on renewable energies.”
The EU Commission’s proposal provides for gas and nuclear power plants to be classified as “green” investments under certain conditions. The “taxonomy” defines which areas of the economy are considered climate-friendly.
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Germany and the 26 other EU member states were able to comment on the Commission’s proposal until midnight on Friday. The Commission then intends to turn the draft into an official so-called delegated act – and thus initiate the next step towards implementation.
In the debate about natural gas as a sustainable investment opportunity in Berlin, it was primarily between the FDP and Green Trenches that emerged. While the FDP definitely wanted to classify gas as sustainable and party leader Christian Lindner even insisted on expanding investment opportunities, the Greens around Robert Habeck expressed doubts. “The EU Commission’s proposals dilute the good label for sustainability,” he said recently.
Environment Minister Steffi Lemke was even clearer: “I am convinced that classification as sustainable in the taxonomy is not necessary for either natural gas or nuclear power.”
The federal government had sharply criticized the plans of the EU Commission in a statement on Friday evening.
The federal government makes suggestions for improvement
The statement now obviously represents a compromise, even if some of the Greens are not likely to be satisfied. The reason for this is that gas-fired power plants currently work with fossil natural gas. It is questionable until when the conversion to gas produced with the help of hydrogen will be successful.
In its statement, the Federal Government is therefore calling on the EU Commission to set a specific date for the complete conversion of the power plants. However, Berlin does not make a proposal for this. Rather, it says: The decisive factor for the classification as a transitional technology is that the gas-fired power plants support the rapid conversion to renewable energies and the reduction of emissions in the energy sector as a whole.
However, the intermediate stages that the taxonomy proposal has mentioned so far are to be omitted. The Federal Government does not consider this to be expedient. Brussels had previously proposed the following intermediate steps: by 2026, the power plant operators would have to add 30 percent and four years later 55 percent green gas in order to continue to meet the sustainability criteria.
The federal government warns that this approach could hinder the switch to hydrogen in other sectors such as industry because it is still too scarce at these early points in time.
Overall, the statement is quite close to the ideas expressed by the FDP. Their energy policy spokesman, Michael Kruse, was correspondingly pleased. “Clear objectives for gas as a transitional technology were formulated. The German commentary on the taxonomy is clear and forward-looking,” he told Handelsblatt.
However, the Greens can refer to some other proposed changes in the opinion, which are intended to force the replacement of old gas-fired power plants with new ones.