20 January 2022

POLITICO: EU enters endgame in fight over green investing rules

Climate campaigners, German and Austrian Greens, scientists and even some investors are aghast at the European Commission's proposal to add nuclear and gas to its definition of what qualifies as a sustainable investment — but there's very little they can do about it.

That's because not nearly enough countries are opposed to the Commission's draft act — blocking it needs a supermajority of at least 72 percent of countries representing 65 percent of the EU's population.

The fast-track feedback period on the draft ends Friday, and the Commission aims to move swiftly. "Our intention is to adopt the act as soon as possible,” a Commission spokesperson said.

But the political anger over the measure is very high.

"We find the new draft problematic both from a political and technical point of view," said a Thursday letter to the Commission signed by Spain, Austria, Luxembourg and Denmark. It warns that the Commission risks the EU's energy transition and calls classifying gas and nuclear as sustainable "a step backwards."

There's also concern from investors that adding nuclear and gas to the list of acceptable technologies might compromise the Sustainable Finance Taxonomy and undermine its goal of combating greenwashing by allowing investors to identify sustainable assets.

The aim is to help funnel the vast amounts of cash that will be needed to hit the EU's climate goals — cutting emissions by 55 percent by the end of the decade and becoming climate neutral by mid-century. The Commission now estimates that some €520 billion each year on top of EU funds will need to be poured into the green transition —  with most of that expected to come from private capital...

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