A majority in the EU Parliament voted in favor of the project on Wednesday.
(Photo: dpa)
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has criticized the green EU label for investments in certain gas and nuclear power plants. “I always thought that was wrong,” he said on Thursday on the ZDF program “Maybrit Illner”. The federal government consisting of SPD, Greens and FDP voted against it, but could no longer prevent the regulation. They then made sure “that it still suits us halfway”. Scholz emphasized: “In Germany we are in complete agreement that nuclear energy is not green.”
A majority in the EU Parliament backed the eco-label project on Wednesday. Specifically, it is about a supplementary legal act to the so-called taxonomy of the EU. It is a classification system designed to steer private investment into sustainable economic activities and thus support the fight against climate change. It is relevant for companies because it influences the investment decisions of investors and could therefore have an impact on the financing costs of projects, for example. Investors should also be able to avoid investments in climate-damaging economic sectors.
Before the vote, environmentalists had asked MEPs to vote against the new legal act. Among other things, they criticize the fact that greenhouse gases are emitted when energy is generated using natural gas. In the case of nuclear power, the main problem is the waste, but also possible accidents. Proponents, on the other hand, point to the need for transitional technologies and to the fact that liquid gas, for example from the USA, or hydrogen can also be used to operate gas-fired power plants.
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