European Parliament Changes What Constitutes as “Green” Energy and You Won’t Believe What It Includes

The European Parliament has declared nuclear power and gas as “green” energy.

JUST IN – EU Parliament declares nuclear power and gas as "green" energy.

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) July 6, 2022

No, that’s not a fictional tale.

What happened?

Did the ‘science’ change?

Europe finally have common sense?

Let’s break it down.

European Parliament on Wednesday “rejected a motion to oppose the inclusion of nuclear and gas as environmentally sustainable economic activities.”

“The European Parliament did not object to the Commission’s Taxonomy Delegated Act to include specific nuclear and gas energy activities, under certain conditions, in the list of environmentally sustainable economic activities covered by the so-called EU Taxonomy.

In short, an absolute majority of MEPs required to reject the Commission’s proposal was not reached.

“If Council does not object either, the Taxonomy Delegated Act enters into force on 1 January 2023.”

No, their objection failed.https://t.co/5RmEIvPuoB

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) July 6, 2022

The rejected motion has stunned environmentalists!

Environmentalists Stunned by EU’s Parliament’s Decision That Nuclear and Gas Power is Now ‘Green Energy’https://t.co/QRwfER7D56

— Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) July 6, 2022

BETRAYAL
(traición)

Así definían los activistas climáticos en el #ParlamentoEuropeo la terrible decisión de no tumbar la taxonomía de la @EU_Commission que considera la nuclear y el gas como energías verdes. #NotMyTaxonomy pic.twitter.com/vcq7yOGove

— Manu Pineda🔻🇵🇸💔🏴 (@ManuPineda) July 6, 2022

The proposal would clear the way for investment in nuclear power plants under ‘green’ energy provisions until 2045, while natural gas investments can also be considered ‘green’ until at least 2030 if their carbon emissions fall under a certain threshold.

“Could this winter’s energy crisis be shocking Europe into climate realism? Believe it or not, the European Union is set to include nuclear and natural gas on the list of industries eligible for “green” investments,” the WSJ Editorial Board noted.

The Associated Press noted how the decision “could tarnish” the bloc’s reputation to reaching its climate neutrality goals.

From AP:

European Union lawmakers voted Wednesday to include natural gas and nuclear in the bloc’s list of sustainable activities, backing a proposal from the EU’s executive arm that has been drawing fierce criticism from environment groups and will likely trigger legal challenges.

As the EU wants to set the best global standards in the fight against climate change, the decision could tarnish the bloc’s image and question the region’s commitment to reaching climate neutrality by 2050.

The European Commission earlier this year made the proposal as part of its plans for building a climate-friendly future, dividing member countries and drawing outcry from environmentalists over what they criticize as “greenwashing.”

EU legislators from the environment and economy committees objected last month to the plan, setting up Wednesday’s decisive vote in Strasbourg, France. But MEPs rejected their resolution in a 328-278 vote, with 33 lawmakers abstaining. The result was announced to a salvo of applause.

Trending Politics reported further environmentalist outrage:

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Some prominent environmentalists are in an uproar that zero-emissions nuclear and low-emissions natural gas can now be qualified as “green energy.”

“It’s questionable anyway if this greenwashing will find any kind of acceptance in financial markets,” Germany’s climate minister Robert Habeck huffed.

“Classifying investments in gas and nuclear power as sustainable contradicts the Green Deal,” the president of the EU Parliament’s Greens Ska Keller lamented.

Austria’s climate minister Leonore Gewessler is seeking a way to sue the EU Commission, the WSJ report noted.

“This is that rarest of cases in climate policy where the politics aligns with energy reality,” the WSJ editorial crowed. “If environmentalists mean what they say about the urgency of cutting CO2 emissions, nuclear is the only widely available power source that’s zero-emitting and more reliable than wind or solar.”

With the prospect of Russia cutting off natural gas from Europe, perhaps MEPs realize letting citizens freeze this winter would lead to a political firestorm.