The European Commission unveiled, on the night of Friday 31 December to Saturday 1 January, a green labeling project for nuclear and gas power plants, which aims to facilitate the financing of installations contributing to the fight against climate change.
The proposed text, debated for months and still provisional, was sent to member states on December 31. It sets the criteria for classifying as “sustainable” investments in nuclear or gas power plants for the production of electricity, with the aim of orienting the “green finance” towards activities contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gases.
France, which wants to relaunch its nuclear industry, and countries in Central Europe, such as Poland or the Czech Republic, which must replace their highly polluting coal-fired power stations, demanded such a text.
Environmentalists oppose the recognition of gas power stations (which emit CO2) and nuclear power, due to the production of radioactive waste. And a small group of countries, led by Germany, fought to exclude the atom.
But both gas and nuclear promoters agree to argue that renewable energies (wind, solar, etc.), already labeled by Brussels, suffer from intermittent production and will not allow electricity to be supplied in the coming years. at a low price and whose production can be controlled.
The Brussels proposal sets conditions for the inclusion of nuclear and gas, in particular a time limit. For the construction of new nuclear power plants, the projects must have obtained a building permit before 2045. Concerning the works allowing to extend the life of the existing plants, they must have been authorized before 2040.
Regarding gas, qualified as “source of transitional energy”, investments will be recognized “sustainable” for power plants emitting little CO2. The Commission has set drastic thresholds: less than 100 g of CO2 per kWh, a threshold unattainable with current technologies, according to experts.
However, a transition period is planned: plants obtaining their building permit before December 31, 2030 will see this threshold raised to 270 g of CO2 per kWh provided that existing infrastructure is replaced which is much more polluting and that they meet a series of criteria. .