{"id":3653,"date":"2022-01-03T06:33:29","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T10:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/energiesnet.com\/espanol\/?p=3653"},"modified":"2022-01-03T14:13:57","modified_gmt":"2022-01-03T18:13:57","slug":"europe-plans-to-say-nuclear-power-and-natural-gas-are-green-investments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/energiesnet.com\/espanol\/europe-plans-to-say-nuclear-power-and-natural-gas-are-green-investments\/","title":{"rendered":"L. Alderman\u00a0and\u00a0M. Pronczuk\/NYT -Europe Plans to Say Nuclear Power and Natural Gas Are Green Investments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The draft proposal could help unleash a wave of investment, but critics say both sources of energy cause damage to the environment.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Under the European proposal, nuclear power would be considered a sustainable investment if countries can safely dispose of radioactive waste. Credit…Virginia Mayo\/Associated Press<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Liz Alderman<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Monika Pronczuk<\/a>\/NYT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PARIS\/BRUSSELS
EnergiesNet.com 01 02 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Union has drawn up plans to classify some nuclear power and natural gas plants as green investments that can help Europe cut planet-warming emissions, a landmark proposal that, if approved, could set off a resurgence of nuclear energy <\/a>on the continent in the coming decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Commission said it had begun consultations with European Union countries on the proposal, which is intended to provide a common set of definitions of what constitutes a \u201csustainable investment\u201d in Europe<\/a>. Any final plan would be subject to approval by a majority of member states, or by the European Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Commission considers there is a role for natural gas and nuclear as a means to facilitate the transition towards a predominantly renewable-based future,\u201d the statement,<\/a> released on Saturday, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposal caps one of the most heated political battles in Europe at a time when its leaders have pledged to pull the planet back from the brink of climate catastrophe. It follows months of intense lobbying pitting a pronuclear bloc led by President Emmanuel Macron of France, Europe\u2019s biggest atomic power producer<\/a>, over objections from Germany<\/a> and other countries that are wary of a proliferation of nuclear power on European soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ADVERTISEMENTContinue reading the main story<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A draft legal text<\/a> circulated in Brussels over the weekend seeks to strike a middle ground. The proposal would deem natural gas and nuclear power as \u201ctransitional\u201d green energy sources to be used to bridge countries\u2019 moves away from coal and carbon-emitting power toward clean energy technologies like wind and solar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nuclear power would be considered a sustainable investment if countries can safely dispose of radioactive waste \u2014 one of the biggest concerns for the German-led bloc. New plants would be considered sustainable investments through 2045 and would have to undergo safety upgrades during their lifetime to ensure \u201cthe highest achievable safety standards,\u201d according to the draft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natural gas plants would be deemed \u201ctransitional\u201d green energy sources for investment purposes if they meet certain emissions criteria and replace more polluting fossil fuel plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The European Union has been working to make sustainability and climate considerations an integral part of its financial rules in order to support the so-called Green Deal<\/a>, which aims to make Europe a net-zero emitter of greenhouse gases by 2050.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rules are intended to drive private capital and public money to renewable investments and prevent \u201cgreenwashing,\u201d when companies make irresponsible claims of helping clean the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporters say natural gas and nuclear can provide critical sources of electricity as economies transition toward cleaner sources like wind and solar, and new technologies like hydrogen power. Climate Fwd  <\/strong>A new administration, an ongoing climate emergency \u2014 and a ton of news. Our newsletter will help you stay on top of it. Get it sent to your inbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But others say neither deserves to be considered a green investment, pointing to carbon dioxide emissions from burning natural gas and the environmental hazards of nuclear plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission\u2019s proposal is expected to face opposition from members of the European Parliament. Bas Eickhout, a Green lawmaker from the Netherlands, said that classifying natural gas as a green investment would mean \u201cthe entire climate leadership of the European Union is down the drain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Eickhout added: \u201cIt would also send the wrong signal to the world. If Europe starts calling an investment in gas green, then what exactly is the reason for the African Union not to go fully into gas as well?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the debate has become \u201ca proxy fight\u201d among national leaders for the future of energy in the bloc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the two technologies, however, nuclear power has arguably been the most politically fraught issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

France led a coalition this year that included nations in Eastern Europe \u2014 the continent\u2019s most coal-dependent region \u2014 to get nuclear energy and natural gas classified as sustainable investments. Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania are among the countries that want to attract more investment for nuclear power as they move away from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDifferent visions of low-carbon transition made it up to the political agenda,\u201d said Alexander Lehmann, head of the Sustainable World Academy at Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. \u201cThe costs of the transition begin to sink in on people, so diametrically opposed energy policies have become clearer,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has brought key oppositions out in the open.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Including nuclear and gas energy in Europe\u2019s sustainable investment rule book \u2014 known as a green taxonomy \u2014 could have significant implications at home and abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Europe, it would unlock billions of euros in state aid for expensive nuclear energy projects. Banks and pension managers offering investments supporting environmental, social and governance causes \u2014 known as ESG funds \u2014 would find it easier to include nuclear energy companies and natural gas in sustainable investment funds that they offer to or invest in for clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy and large, nuclear was not considered to be ESG-friendly,\u201d said Marisa Drew, the head of sustainable investing at Credit Suisse. E.U. approval, however, would open up \u201ca potentially big wave of investment dollars,\u201d she said. \u201cTrillions of ESG money could find its way in this direction,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandrine Dixson-Decl\u00e8ve, a co-president of the Club of Rome and a member of the panel that advised the European Commission on nuclear and natural gas, said that neither power source could be considered green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The advisory body, known as the European Commission Advisory Platform on Sustainable Finance, concluded earlier this year that nuclear power plants posed risks of \u201csignificant harm\u201d to the environment because of the radioactive waste they generate and concerns over the safety of storing it, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t give it a clean bill of health,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tsvetelina Kuzmanova, an expert on sustainable finance and a policy adviser at E3G, a Brussels think tank, said including nuclear and natural gas in the taxonomy amounted to \u201ccalling something that isn\u2019t green, green.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said a number of other countries are likely to be influenced by the European Union\u2019s final ruling, and warned that it could create \u201ca race to the bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further debate means it could take years before the E.U.\u2019s rule book actually comes into force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, the political tide has increasingly turned in favor of nuclear power as a low-carbon solution to achieve climate change \u2014 especially a new generation of smaller, cheaper plants<\/a> across the globe, said George Borovas, head of nuclear practice at the global law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere will be a nuclear renaissance,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be for everyone, but it will be for a number of countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investment money wouldn\u2019t start flowing right away, noted Ms. Drew of Credit Suisse. Banks will need to update their sustainable investment governance for funds offered to clients, to include nuclear and gas alongside renewable energy sources like wind and solar power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And small modular nuclear reactor projects, in particular, still need to get off the ground. \u201cIt\u2019s early days. You have a few people with business plans looking for funding,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as the industry scales up, so will the investments. A number of companies, from Rolls-Royce<\/a> to Westinghouse, are working on models that can be put together in factories and assembled on site at the fraction of the cost of traditional behemoth nuclear plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a massively different economic proposition,\u201d Ms. Drew said, adding that investors were looking at small nuclear plants as a potential power source for factories, desalination facilities or even cryptocurrency miners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If that happens, she said, \u201cwe\u2019re not going to get that genie back in the box.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Elian Peltier contributed reporting.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liz Alderman is the Paris-based chief European business correspondent, covering economic and inequality challenges around Europe. She was previously an assistant business editor, and spent five years as the business editor of what was The International Herald Tribune. @LizAldermanNYT<\/a>. Monika Pronczuk is a reporter based in Brussels. She joined The Times in February 2020. @MonikaPronczuk<\/a>

nytimes.com <\/a>01 02 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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The draft proposal could help unleash a wave of investment, but critics say both sources of energy cause damage to the environment. By\u00a0Liz Alderman\u00a0and\u00a0Monika Pronczuk\/NYT PARIS\/BRUSSELSEnergiesNet.com 01 02 2022 The European Union has drawn up plans to classify some nuclear power and natural gas plants as green investments that can help Europe cut planet-warming emissions, …<\/p>\n

L. Alderman\u00a0and\u00a0M. Pronczuk\/NYT -Europe Plans to Say Nuclear Power and Natural Gas Are Green Investments<\/span> Leer m\u00e1s »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/energiesnet.com\/espanol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/energiesnet.com\/espanol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/energiesnet.com\/espanol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energiesnet.com\/espanol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energiesnet.com\/espanol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/energiesnet.com\/espanol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energiesnet.com\/espanol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/energiesnet.com\/espanol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energiesnet.com\/espanol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/energiesnet.com\/espanol\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}