Ministries reject nuclear inclusion in EU taxonomy

The environment ministers of five EU member states including Germany warned against including nuclear power in the proposed EU taxonomy at the sidelines of the UN Cop 26 climate conference in Glasgow today.

In a joint statement issued by the environment ministers of Germany, Denmark, Luxembourg, Austria and Portugal, the signatories warn that including nuclear in the taxonomy would permanently damage the latter's "integrity, credibility and therefore its usefulness".

The EU taxonomy is to establish criteria for environmentally sustainable economic practices, steering funding towards these activities.

German caretaker environment minister Svenja Schulze said that "nuclear power is too risky, too expensive", and in any case would come too late to make a notable contribution to mitigating climate warming.

The taxonomy should direct investments into renewable energies, Schulze said. An EU taxonomy including nuclear power would lead not just to a loss of credibility, but also of liquidity in Germany, Schulze warned.

The taxonomy is to act as a "compass" for investors, Austria's environment minister Leonore Gewessler said. Anything smacking of "greenwashing" could jeopardise trust in this compass. It is also about consumer rights, Gewessler said.

Portugal's environment minister Joao Pedro Matos Fernandes warned that money invested in nuclear power is money that is not available for investments in renewable energies.

Luxembourg environment minister Carole Dieschbourg stressed that the ministers' statement is not about interfering with other states' plans to invest in nuclear power, but about safeguarding the taxonomy's integrity.

The statement comes a day after French president Emmanuel Macron announced that France will build new nuclear reactors in the coming years, as part of the country's decarbonisation strategy.

By Chloe Jardine