The Luxembourg Government has expressed its concerns over the proposal of the European Commission to integrate nuclear energy and natural gas in the framework aimed at promoting sustainable investments (taxonomy).
The government stated that it opposes the decision of the Commission, adding that Luxembourg has opposed the possible inclusion of nuclear energy and natural gas in the taxonomy, which is a common classification system for sustainable economic activities, since the start of negotiations.
According to the Luxembourg Government, the real transition to climate neutrality must disregard fossil fuels as well as nuclear energy, a technology that is expensive and dangerous not only for citizens, but also for the environment and natural resources.
Luxembourg will notify the Commission of its opposition within the deadline. If the text is adopted as it is in January, Luxembourg will continue to oppose this Commission decision within the European Council. The government is also considering legal remedies against the decision should it be adopted as it stands, in close consultation with Austria.
In this regard, Luxembourg's Minister of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development, Carole Dieschbourg, said on Tuesday that “the question of taxonomy is of crucial importance for a successful energy transition. The aim here is to mark unsustainable technologies as sustainable and, therefore, to allow fossil and nuclear energy players to access the investments planned for the green transition. Including nuclear and natural gas in the taxonomy of sustainable finance would seriously undermine its credibility. This is why Luxembourg will do everything in its power to block this decision and avoid greenwashing".
Claude Turmes, Minister of Energy, added: "Nuclear power plants are not sustainable, require decades of construction, are dangerous and much more expensive than renewable energies and therefore do not constitute a realistic path to fight against climate change. We will now analyse this text in detail with our European allies, such as the governments of Berlin and Vienna, and we will study its scope closely”.
Luxembourg's new Minister of Finance, Yuriko Backes, also commented: “As one of the leaders in sustainable finance, Luxembourg remains firmly committed to contributing to the development of a credible taxonomy that can serve as a standard for the on an international scale, in the interest of the competitiveness of European financial services".
