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Environmental organization Greenpeace is suing the European Commission over a list of renewable energy sources that is in force in the EU. In addition to wind and solar energy, for example, nuclear energy and natural gas are also labeled as green fuel on that list. This means that investments in those energy sources in Europe count as sustainable investments, which is a thorn in the side of Greenpeace.
“Natural gas is a fossil fuel,” says Faiza Oulahsen of the environmental organization. “If you burn it, a lot of CO2 is released. We don’t think nuclear energy is sustainable either, because it creates mountains of radioactive waste.”
According to Greenpeace, nuclear energy is therefore not in line with the European principle of ‘do no significant harm‘. This means that an activity may not have a negative impact on other environmental goals. The environmental organization cites the EU list as an example greenwashing. Things are presented as more sustainable than they actually are.
“Transitional Activities”
The European Commission has always defended the addition of natural gas and nuclear energy to the list, saying that nuclear energy and natural gas should be seen as “transitional activities”. For example, according to Europe, gas can accelerate the transition from the even more polluting coal to renewable energy sources. Because there is currently too little energy available from solar, wind and water, for example, gas and nuclear power stations are still necessary, says the Commission.
The subject has been a hot topic for some time. Natural gas and nuclear energy were still missing from the first edition of the EU list from 2021, because Brussels had not yet taken a decision on them. When it became clear last year that the European Commission regarded the two forms of energy as green, temporarily or permanently, environmental organizations immediately reacted critically.
Dutch banks and insurers, such as Achmea, Triodos and ASN, also found the choice for gas and nuclear energy inexplicable. The same applies to the EU member states Luxembourg and Austria, which already announced last year that they want to take legal action against the European Commission.
Climate matters
Greenpeace thinks that the legal process is promising. The case against the European Commission is expected to be heard by the European Court of Justice in April.
The environmental club is not the first to take a government agency to court. In 2015, the court in The Hague ruled that the Dutch State must do much more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in a case brought by the sustainability foundation Urgenda.
Subsequently, there have also been ‘climate cases’ against large companies, such as those of Milieudefensie against Shell. The oil company was forced by a court in 2021 to reduce CO2 emissions and appealed against this.
