The European Executive has released the first criteria for action to combat or prepare for climate change, a classification to provide general criteria for investors and to attract the private capital needed to achieve the EU’s climate goals.

Unlike the initial plan, at this stage “natural gas is not included or excluded in the taxonomy”, the Commission notes in a press release after the public consultation on the inclusion of a fossil fuel “reveals conflicting views”.

As a result, the additional commission text includes “accept later this year”, gas and “related technologies”.

The Commission initially considered gas-fired plants to be “transformative energy” from these green deposits, stipulating that coal-fired plants should replace power plants and maximize the allowable CO2 emissions within the taxonomy framework.

“Proposed Legislation”

The proposal drew protests not only from MEPs and environmental NGOs, but also from five EU states (Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg and Spain).

However, Brussels does not shy away from “specific legislation” on the use of gas, which, for example, makes it possible to reduce CO2 emissions, for example by replacing coal, but “outside the norms of taxonomy”, said commission vice president Valdis Dombrovsky.

Nuclear power, another bone of contention, the Commission already planned to turn its potential into “sustainable” energy, despite the active support of many countries – including France – in favor of the civilian atom.

“We have decided not to do anything until everything is resolved, but we do not have time to deal with the climate crisis.”