To put nuclear power at the heart of European environmental policy, France is ready to join forces with countries which promote fossil fuels.
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European taxonomy is a register classifying the different energies with a more or less green label. Obtaining it can in particular make it possible to benefit from subsidies or financing. For its part, France is pushing for nuclear power to be recognized by the European Commission as sustainable energy. To achieve its ends, it is not excluded that it ally with other countries which, for their part, support natural gas – fossil energy – as shown by a note revealed by the newspaper Context relayed by many NGOs.
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“There is really a logic of double play on the part of France in environmental matters, says Paul Schreiber of the NGO Reclaim Finance, which specializes in the impact of finance on the climate. On the one hand, there are major declarations on the subject, and on the other hand, a joint approach with the countries of eastern Europe (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, etc.) to include gas and nuclear power in the taxonomy . This could call into question all European climate objectives. “
“France is not asking for the inclusion of gas in the taxonomy, answers the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune. But a European compromise has to be found on the subject. On the other hand, we believe it is important that nuclear power be included in the list of investments recognized by the European Union. “
According to a report by Reclaim Finance, the gas and nuclear sector, mobilized around the financial issues of taxonomy, spend tens of millions of euros on lobbying every year in Brussels.
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