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Publish date: February 2, 2022
News
Brussels, Belgium, February 2, 2022 – Today, the European Commission published the complementary Delegated Act amending the treatment of fossil gas in EU Taxonomy, making it a tool for greenwashing rather than a solution.
Despite clear conclusions from the the European Commission expert advisors, form the Platform on Sustainable Finance, that current Delegated Act breach the technology neutrality principle, no substantial changes have been made in the new proposal (EU Platform on Sustainable Finance response to complementary Delegated Act (europa.eu)).
”Our warning on the uncertain and unlikely realisation of shifts to undefined renewable and low-carbon gases has not only been disregarded – the criteria has also been weakened”, says sustainable finance manager Lina Strandvåg Nagell at Bellona Europa.
As a justification for introduced gas loopholes, and gas-specific exemptions to the technology neutrality principle, the Commission heavily relies on proposed shifts to renewable and low-carbon gases. Neither defined in the proposal. Making it possible for gas power plants, replacing an existing high emitting facility, built until 2030 to claim net-zero compliance if they can in the future be fuelled by renewable gas (such as green hydrogen) or low-carbon gases.
As shown by Bellona Europa’s own calculations, this would incentivise inefficient use of a valuable resource: renewables. The proposal risks gas power plants becoming a black hole for renewable energy, more efficiently used elsewhere. A far cry from the Taxonomy’s intended role: setting the gold standard for sustainability.
Recent attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "mark the beginning of a new and gravely dangerous front of the war," the UN atomic agency's director general said last week.
After years of inaction, Germany is working on its Carbon Management Strategy to resolve how CCS can play a role in climate action in industry. At the end of February, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action published first key points and a proposal to amend the law Kohlenstoffdioxid Speicherungsgesetz (KSpG). Bellona Deutschland, who was actively involved in the previous stakeholder dialogue submitted a statement in the association hearing.
In the midst of a global discussion on whether natural gas should be used as a transitional fuel and whether emissions from its extraction, production, transport and use are significantly less than those from other fossil fuels, Russia has developed ambitious plans to increase its own production of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the Arctic – a region with 75% of proven gas reserves in Russia – to raise its share in the international gas trade.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our main focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution risks and climate change.