05 July 2022

Commissioner McGuinness at the European Parliament plenary debate on the EU Taxonomy Complementary Climate Delegated Act

To quote one of the many commentators on our debate today – this is a moment of truth.

And the first and most important truth that I want to convey to you, as former colleagues, is that the Climate Delegated Act now in legislation since January 1st of this year prioritises investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. 

And given the urgency of moving away from Russian fossil fuels, we need to ramp up those investments with a renewed sense of urgency.

This is our future.

You know there was considerable debate about that first delegated act – just as there is strong debate about the Complementary Delegated Act we are discussing today.

The Climate Delegated Act was also opposed by some who are speaking and will speak in this debate.

As a former Member of this Parliament, I fully respect your strongly held views.

But I also appreciate the pragmatism and realism in this House that allowed the climate delegated act move from proposal to legislation.

The second truth.

Gas is a fossil fuel – it is not green.

And I have never described it thus – thank you – I can say that in several languages if you wish – but I have never described gas as anything other than a fossil fuel.

But some Member States moving from dirty fossil fuel may need gas in transition – and that is where we have placed gas in this Taxonomy.

Nuclear power – the speaker before me just said it – is divisive. There are many different views around nuclear, it has its supporters and detractors.

But nuclear – low carbon - is part of our energy mix in transition too.

And that is why it is in the transition category of the Taxonomy.

The third truth.

The taxonomy is a voluntary instrument to guide private investors towards investments that allow us reach our climate goals.

It is a tool for the financial sector and for investors.

It is not energy policy: Member States are and remain fully in charge of their energy mix.

I want to stress that there is no obligation on any Member State to invest in either nuclear or gas.

There is no obligation on any private investor to invest in nuclear or gas.

But – and this is a fundamental truth – with this Complementary Delegated Act, we provide clarity around the criteria under which private investments in gas or nuclear, or both, comply with the Taxonomy in the transition category.

While the CDA was drafted before Russian's illegal invasion of Ukraine, it does actually help us to look for alternative sources of gas, including LNG, from our international partners.

It sends a signal that we support investment in gas infrastructure – power plants – during our transition.

It does not deepen our dependence on Russian gas.

Our RePowerEU plan aims to tackle our energy insecurity as we move away rapidly from Russian fossil fuels.

We need these alternative sources to eliminate our reliance on Russian gas.

And we have to guard against stranded assets by ensuring that any new gas infrastructure would have to be able to convert to low carbon or renewable gases.

So our priority is to ensure investments in renewables intensifies, but without diverting EU green finances to fossil fuels like gas or indeed nuclear at the expense of renewables – which are a priority in our legislation, as I've already said.

For me it is better to have clear rules, clear conditionality on private investments in gas and nuclear to ensure that we move towards our shared net-zero ambitions.

Without this Complementary Delegated Act there would be no rules and conditions guiding such private investments. 

In addition, the financial sector will be required to provide full disclosure of their financial products – with additional transparency required for products that might contain, or would contain, gas and nuclear.

There will be no greenwashing – instead it will be crystal clear for investors as to what investments are contained within financial products.

Colleagues, we are in a time of great uncertainty.

Today, we see what we think was the unthinkable – some Member States are re-opening coal fired power plants because of energy security concerns.

I hope that my remarks clarify why the Commission believes that this Complementary Delegated Act is important for our energy transition.

It is both realistic and pragmatic, given the very uncertain times we live in.

Commission

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