Russia pressures the EU to treat gas and nuclear as “green” energy

Environmental organization Greenpeace assures Russian energy companies are close Kremlin Like Gazprom, Lukoil and Rosatom lobbied for the European Commission in Brussels to classify nuclear power and gas as sustainable investments in the so-called taxonomy.

those energy products companies Collect At least 18 times with those responsible for the European Commission, usually through subsidiaries and pressure groups (lobbies), since Greenpeace stepped up its “action” on taxonomy rules in 2018, according to a report going forward to Efe. plan” was published.

classification

Taxonomy is a controversial system devised by the Commission to separate sustainable from sustainable technologies in guiding future investments in ecological transition. The European Union,

After years of deliberation in various technical committees, the Community Executive finally proposed in December 2021 that nuclear power plants with construction permits be considered sustainable first. 2045 and gas plants that emit less than 270 grams of CO2 per kilowatt hour by 2031, or less than 100 grams over their entire useful life.

This decision, which the European Parliament may still reject if half of the plenary session (353 delegates) oppose it, was heavily criticized by environmental platforms and some member states such as DenmarkSpain, Austria and Luxembourg, some of which have threatened to take the taxonomy to EU jurisdictions.

France leads the bloc that protects nuclear power, which is barely generated CO 2 But it also includes other problems such as security or radioactive waste with the support of countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary or Finland. Germany does not want nuclear power to be a sustainable investment, but advocates it, including gas.

gazprom

“Russian gas companies and petroleum They have participated in a subtle but significant way in the fossil fuel industry’s ‘lobby’ to include the gas in the classification,” says Greenpeace, which identifies some of the tools from the above companies to expand their influence in Brussels. Is.

The gas company Gazprom, which does not declare to belong to any group in the EU’s Transparency Register, sought influence through subsidiaries that are members of regional organizations such as the Gas Infrastructure Europe Platform. gas naturallyFrench forum AFIEG28 or Brussels Energy Club (BREC) has verified environmental NGOs.

Russian nuclear company Rosneft, which Greenpeace defines as “the right hand” Putin in energy and nuclear weapons” has had “deep links” with the French power group EDF for decades.

He tried to exert influence in Brussels through that French company, but also through the Russian-Finnish joint firm Fenovoima and world nuclear unionAssures investigation by the French division of Greenpeace.

lukoil

Finally, oil lukoil It has been a member of the corporate advisory and support group of the community employer platform BusinessEurope until the invasion of Ukraine and remains a member of the FuelEurope organization, “two major lobby groups working to include gas in the classification” of the NGO. according.

“Gazprom, Rosatom and Lukoil campaigned for gas and nuclear energy to achieve the permanent label of the European Union, thereby geopolitical power (Vladimir) Putin and making the EU more dependent on Russian energy for decades to come,” Greenpeace chief Ariadna Rodrigo said in a statement.

It is expected next June classification Vote in parliamentary committees in the European Parliament and the text to be presented at the plenary session of the European Parliament in July.