MEPs have objected to the delegated act (DA) which would give gas and nuclear energy activities a green label via the EU Taxonomy. In a joint meeting of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee, 76 MEPs voted against the DA, explained here, with 62 supporting it and four abstaining. The objection says the MEPs do not think the DA fits the criteria for environmentally sustainable activities, as set out in Article 3 of the Taxonomy Regulation. The resolution will next be voted on by the European Parliament in July and, if an absolute majority of MEPs object, the DA will have to be amended or withdrawn. Marta Toporek, a lawyer at ClientEarth, said: “Branding fossil gas as transitional and green in the Taxonomy is not only flagrant self-sabotage in climate terms – it is unlawful. It clashes with the EU’s key climate legislation and the main piece of EU legislation on the Taxonomy itself. Today’s vote ought to be the final nail in the coffin for gas in the Taxonomy.”
📣With an absolute majority, MEPs in the Environment and Economic Affairs committees have rejected the classification of fossil gas as environmentally sustainable!
Now the plenary must follow and vote down the greenwashed #EUTaxonomy! https://t.co/n4WdCr8kvP pic.twitter.com/eO06WFuxcY
— WWF EU (@WWFEU) June 14, 2022
