At COP26, Luxembourg says no to sustainable finance including nuclear
Environment Minister Carole Dieschbourg presented a declaration for a nuclear-free taxonomy in Glasgow on Thursday with ministers from Germany, Austria, Portugal and Denmark.
At a time when efforts to reduce greenhouse gases seem to restore the reputation of nuclear power with recovery projects in France and the United Kingdom, Minister Carole Dieschbourg has issued a press release showing how Luxembourg and several European countries are backwards from this return in vogue to an energy that was once vilified and today adorned with ecological virtues.
During a press conference on Thursday, the Minister of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development insisted that “nuclear energy cannot be labeled and marketed as sustainable technology”. Carole Dieschbourg also underlined that “the inclusion of nuclear energy in the taxonomy of sustainable finance of the EU would undermine its credibility and its usefulness”.
The countries which accompany him in this refusal supported his point by denouncing nuclear energy, a technology “at high risk, unsustainable and too expensive”. So many elements that disqualified its claim to be part of the fight against climate change. According to the Luxembourg Minister, only “renewable energies are the building blocks of a sustainable, cheaper and more secure future” if we want to “maintain the objective of limited warming to 1.5 ° C”.
The Minister does not hesitate to state it: “An inclusion of nuclear energy in the list of sustainable activities of the EU taxonomy represented labeling fraud. For Luxembourg, “transparency, market integrity and citizens’ confidence in the green financing process are crucial for a sustainable energy transition”.
Let us recall what the European taxonomy project is. It is a classification tool that provides all financial actors with a common understanding of what should be considered a green or sustainable business. It should help investors, companies, issuers and project promoters to direct their investments towards economic activities that respect the environment.
Ministers from 10 member states, including France, published a column defending the atom in mid-October. Meeting at a European Council on 21 and 22 October, the heads of state and government called on the European Commission to take a decision.
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