Brussels — In a groundbreaking vote on Europe’s climate and energy policy, lawmakers should be considered “green” on Wednesday for some gas and nuclear energy projects, and even get cheap loans and state subsidies. I said there is.
At a meeting of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, votes were voted in favor of the proposal by the European Commission, an EU executive, with 328 votes in favor and 278 votes against.
Policy critics booed in protest, both inside the Capitol and outside the building.
The Commission’s proposal to label gas and nuclear as “green” is a broader new EU that categorizes different types of energy investments as environmentally friendly and sets out detailed rules on how to evaluate them. It’s part of the law.
Known as the “classification method,” this policy aims to thwart “greenwashing,” the common practice of mislabeling energy projects as environmentally friendly. It also added room to the block that brings together 27 industrialized wealthy nations to scramble to replace Russia’s energy sources to penalize the Kremlin in this year’s invasion of Ukraine.
However, classification remains controversial in the environmental world. Critics of the proposal said that the attempt to classify gas and nuclear projects as green is itself “greenwashing”, reducing carbon emissions by 55% by 2030 and reaching carbon neutrality by 2050. It claims to be contrary to the European efforts.
European decisions can reverberate far beyond regional boundaries, as European policy is set as a global benchmark and can be replicated in other parts of the world, according to experts. ..
The “green” classification of gas and nuclear provides financial incentives for European countries and companies to invest in these energy sources, and critics say they are much better renewable in the environment, such as wind and solar energy. It is said to delay the complete switch to energy.
The European Commission knows that gas and nuclear are not in perfect agreement with environmental goals, but still considers them important in Europe’s transition from the current energy mix to a carbon-neutral future. He said he was. Gas is called a “low emission” fuel. This is accurate, but only when compared to highly polluted coal.
These goals, and the means to achieve them over the next few decades, are key to Europe’s efforts to lead the world in climate policy. But they are also at the center of their position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
So far, EU countries have banned Russian coal and most will phase out even Russia’s oil imports, but continue to rely particularly on Russia’s natural gas for electricity and heating.
Russia has used gas exports to Europe as a means of putting pressure on the European Union. The block seeks to obtain gas from other sources such as Africa, the Middle East and the United States, but is far from banned because it requires too much Russian imports.