The EU Taxonomy decision is acceptable only with systemic change in mind

The European Parliament voted today, Wednesday 06 July, to allow nuclear and gas into the EU Taxonomy list of sustainable investments. The legislation is not free from limitations:

Nuclear-related activities covered by the EU Taxonomy:

1. Advanced technologies with closed fuel cycle (“Generation IV”) to incentivise research and innovation into future technologies in terms of safety standards and minimising waste (with no sunset clause);
2. New nuclear power plant projects for energy generation, which will be using best-available existing technologies (“Generation III+”), will be recognised until 2045 (date of approval of construction permit);
3. Modifications and upgrades of existing nuclear installations for the purposes of lifetime extension, will be recognised until 2040 (date of approval by competent authority)

Each gas-related activity needs to meet either of the following emission thresholds:

• lifecycle emissions are below 100gCO2e/kWh**, or
• until 2030 (date of approval of construction permit), and where renewables are not available at sufficient scale, direct emissions are below 270gCO2e/kWh or, for the activity of electricity generation, their annual direct GHG emissions must not exceed an average of 550kgCO2e/kW of the facility's capacity over 20 years. In this case, the activity must meet a set of cumulative conditions: e.g. it replaces a facility using solid or liquid fossil fuels, the activity ensures a full switch to renewable or low-carbon gases by 2035, and a regular independent verification of compliance with the criteria is carried out

The inclusion of the two energy sources will surely raise questions about the EU's involvement in the fight to climate change and its seriousness in the application of green principles. However, while it is easy to point the finger against politcians and EU administrators, the decision is filled with realpolitik and heavily influenced by the events currently unfolding in Europe and the rest of the globe.

The inclusion of nuclear and gas in the EU Taxonomy can only be justified in the short term perspective of addressing the emergency situation the Union is facing in the new geopolitical context triggered by the war in Ukraine. EERA however stresses such inclusion must remain temporary and conditional to strictly guaranteeing that the resulting investment remain fully compatible and converging towards EU long term strategy of fast transition away from fossil fuels toward clean energy tecnologies. Failing to ensure such convergence may irremediably jeopardise EU achieving its climate objectives at the core of its strategy.

** Even in the most efficient combined heat and power plants, fossil gas power has a carbon intensity of more than double the 100g CO2e/kWh threshold. For the most efficient conventional gas power plants, emissions are more than three times that figure. It is possible for new gas-fired power plants to get under the 100g threshold, but only with carbon capture & sequestration or other abatement technologies