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European-based Catholic social and environmental justice groups oppose and have voiced their dismay at the EU Parliament “greenwashing” fossil fuels.
In a July 6 vote, the EU governing body gave the green light to the green tag for nuclear and gas, despite opponents seeking support to reject the motion.
The vote came as Europe faces energy uncertainty as it has sought to end its dependence on Russian oil and gas in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Certain fossil gas and nuclear energy activities will be included in a list of environmentally sustainable economic activities, referred to as the “EU taxonomy”. For example, new gas-fired power plants to replace coal-fired facilities.
This vote has cast doubts on the EU’s ability to meet its European Green Deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions 55% by 2030 and to make the continent carbon neutral by 2050.
The vote outcome was criticised by Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité (CIDSE), a network of primarily European-based Catholic social and environmental justice organisations.
They agreed with comments from Climate Action Network Europe (CAN), that “Classifying fossil gas and nuclear power as green is a climate disaster fuelling human rights violations, as it will increase gas and uranium demand”.
CAN Europe said the move would slow the shift to renewables and divert needed investment dollars away from solar and wind energy projects. It also argued that few European countries stand to benefit economically from the designations.
Chiara Martinelli, CAN Europe director and past senior adviser for CIDSE, said the move cost the EU Parliament “another opportunity to sit on the right side of history”.
“Instead of providing brave, consistent decisions to stop funding fossil fuels, including from Russia, and addressing the energy crisis we are facing, the European Parliament chose to follow fossil fuel lobbies and voted for business as usual,” Martinelli said in a statement.
The groups said the classification would undermine the goals of the Paris Agreement — specifically limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius — and the European Union’s own emissions targets.
Doing so would “mark a worrisome setback on the realisation of a truly ecological and just transition” as called for by Pope Francis in his 2015 encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ on Care for Our Common Home, said the trio of Catholic organisations.
They added that classifying gas and nuclear energy as “green” was out of step with the EU’s own scientific experts. Moreover, this would lead to negative consequences for vulnerable communities across Europe and further extraction of natural resources, particularly in the Global South.
A supermajority, or 20 of 27 countries, could still block the green classification, Reuters reported. But they must do so before the July 11 deadline. Meanwhile, several nations and environmental groups have vowed to fight the green labels in the courts.
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