22 December 2020
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The European Commission (EC) aims to be a model for promoting sustainable development, building on its demonstrated success in being a low-carbon region among developed countries, but the EU Taxonomy could damage that ambition, writes Philippe Costes, senior adviser at World Nuclear Association.
Philippe Costes
"Issuing a classification system (the 'taxonomy') to encourage investment in sustainable economic activities looked at first sight to be a good idea. Unfortunately, the process followed to develop this taxonomy and implement the EU Sustainable Financing Regulation appears to be compromised by political agendas and lack of scientific credibility.
Following the recommendations from the March 2020 Technical Expert Group (TEG) report, the EC has prepared a draft Delegated Act (DA) proposing screening criteria to determine the conditions under which an economic activity qualifies as contributing substantially to climate change mitigation or climate change adaptation. Despite the fact that the substantial contribution of nuclear energy to climate mitigation objectives is extensive and clear, this first Delegated Act does not consider nuclear power as the TEG did not feel capable to conclude whether nuclear energy can be considered sustainable according to the established criteria and recommended that more extensive technical work should be undertaken by a group with in-depth technical expertise on nuclear life cycle technologies. The TEG felt capable to make assessments for all other economic activities evaluated.