Friday, 9 April 2021, 5:57 am
For the last year, Central and Eastern European
governments have been pressuring the EU to include less
restrictive criteria for biomass
energy production and to recognise natural
gas as a transition fuel towards climate neutrality.
They may have realised their ambitions with the current
draft of the EU Sustainable Taxonomy proposal.
Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)
will be one of the most negatively affected regions
if fossil fuels are included in the
EU
Sustainable Taxonomy. Such a development would
open the way for environmentally harmful projects that would
have a destructive impact not just on regional ecosystems,
In response, along with 225 scientists, the WWF, financial institutions and NGOs have signed a letter stating that if the leaked text were adopted, the taxonomy would become a greenwashing tool instead of being the gold standard in the fight against greenwashing that it was promised to be.
On a broader level, it would completely discredit the European Green Deal.
“A weak taxonomy will gravely hinder the chance to implement EU climate targets, especially in CEE countries. We need a taxonomy that stops greenwashing and is in alignment with what science tells us,” says Alina Blaga, regional policy lead, WWF Central and Eastern Europe.