![Brussels weathers backlash over calling gas and nuclear sustainable](https://www.portugalcolonial.pt/media/shared/articles/0b/dd/g0/Brussels-weathers-backlash-over-cal-138243.jpg)
-
'Windmill love' sees Dutch artist become mill operator
-
US defends law forcing sale of TikTok app
-
Messi out for defending champ Miami as Leagues Cup begins
-
Australia bans uranium mining at Indigenous site
-
Divers attempt to reach sunken Philippine oil tanker
-
Trump accuses Harris of anti-Semitism in overblown speech
-
Coughlin clings to lead at LPGA Canadian Women's Open
-
Trump offers tech sector policy flips ahead of election
-
Spacecraft to swing by Earth, Moon on path to Jupiter
-
What's the fallout of Mexican drug lords' capture?
-
Video game makers see actors as AI 'data,' says union on strike
-
Chinese qualifier Shang to face Thompson in ATP Atlanta semis
-
'Massive attack' on French rail threatens more chaos
-
'We did it!': France breathes sigh of relief after Olympics ceremony
-
Regional concern grows as Venezuela blocks vote observers
-
Historic river parade, Dion show-stopper ignite Paris Olympics
-
Rainy Paris Olympic parade dampens many spectators' spirits
-
The one of a kind Paris opening ceremony: five memorable moments
-
Justin Timberlake seeks to dismiss DUI case
-
Warner Brothers Discovery sues NBA over Amazon rights deal
-
Kobe Bryant locker, Maradona jersey up for auction in New York
-
Historic river parade launches Paris Olympics
-
New York family of Holocaust victim reclaims Nazi-looted art
-
NASA Mars rover captures rock that could hold fossilized microbes
-
Thousands evacuate season's biggest wildfire in northern California
-
Ethiopia mourns victims of landslide tragedy
-
Lady Gaga adds sparkle to star-studded Olympic show
-
Airbus and Boeing supremacy secure despite turbulence
-
Teams sail down Seine in rain-soaked Olympics opening ceremony
-
West Indies' treble strike rocks England in third Test
-
Olympic opening ceremony under way on River Seine
-
Mott's England future uncertain as ECB chief fails to offer support
-
Trump meets Israeli PM Netanyahu in Florida
-
S.African police say 95 Libyans detained at suspected military camp
-
Blinken set for talks with Chinese counterpart in Laos
-
Norris heads Piastri in McLaren one-two at Belgian GP practice
-
G20 seeks common ground on taxing super-rich
-
European medicines watchdog rejects new Alzheimer's drug
-
Habib, Ebden eye Alcaraz and Djokovic shocks at Olympics tennis
-
Long queues, ticketing problems ahead of Paris opening ceremony
-
Two Sinaloa Cartel leaders face US charges after stunning capture
-
Spain train driver jailed for 2.5 years over deadly 2013 crash
-
Paris poised for Olympic opening ceremony spectacular
-
Judoka fails doping test in first case at Paris Olympics
-
Holder and Da Silva keep England at bay after West Indies collapse
-
Alpine F1 boss Bruno Famin to leave in August
-
Ethiopia declares three days of mourning after landslide tragedy
-
Brazilian dunes dotted with dazzling pools make UNESCO heritage list
-
Rain, cooling slow huge blaze in Canada's Jasper park
-
French Rugby's Jaminet suspended 34 weeks after racist video: Federation
![Brussels weathers backlash over calling gas and nuclear sustainable](https://www.portugalcolonial.pt/media/shared/articles/0b/dd/g0/Brussels-weathers-backlash-over-cal-138243.jpg)
Brussels weathers backlash over calling gas and nuclear sustainable
The European Commission on Wednesday defied angry dissent from EU governments and protests from green campaigners to give a sustainable finance label to investments in both gas and nuclear power.
Austria warned it will go to court to try to halt the measure, while Germany -- which backed the inclusion of gas -- called extending the labelling to nuclear "unacceptable".
Critics of nuclear energy point to the threat posed by accidents and nuclear waste, while opponents of gas want to discourage investment in a fossil fuel technology they say only adds to the climate change crisis.
But the EU executive, under pressure from nuclear-powered France and gas-reliant Germany, argues that both have a role to play as cleaner power sources during the transition to a net-zero carbon future.
The decision "may be imperfect, but it is a real solution," EU commissioner Mairead McGuinness said.
While the EU is aiming for renewable energy to secure its low-carbon ambitions, she stressed that "we do not have the capacity for that yet -- but we still need to act urgently with all the means at our disposal".
The commission's announcement on Wednesday makes the labelling a done deal, unless a supermajority of EU countries, or a majority in the European Parliament, block it. Insiders said that was unlikely.
The controversy around the issue reflected the fact that EU countries each have very different energy mixes, and while they agree on climate change fighting goals they do not want to see disproportionate pain fall upon them to get there.
EU heavyweights Germany and France each rallied other member states around their respective backing of gas and nuclear.
But Germany -- which relies on Russia for most of its imported gas -- was scathing on nuclear being included in the labelling exercise, which Brussels calls its "taxonomy".
"Germany is clearly and unequivocally against the inclusion of nuclear power in the taxonomy," German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke said.
"Nuclear power is anything but sustainable," she said, calling its inclusion "a major mistake that will... endanger our climate targets".
Austrian Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler -- whose Alpine country produces most of its energy from hydropower -- was also critical, but of both nuclear and gas.
"The decision is wrong because it endangers the future... We are giving our children a backpack full of problems... It's irresponsible," she said.
Before the announcement, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden jointly signed a letter firmly opposing has projects as "largely incompatible" with the goals of the Paris climate agreement.
- 'Attempted robbery' -
In a sign of the hurdles faced by the commission in pushing through the labelling text, agreement among the EU's 27 member states was not unanimous. A vote had to be held before the announcement.
Green activists, too, expressed outrage.
Greenpeace sustainable finance campaigner Ariadna Rodrigo said: "I'd like to report an attempted robbery, please.
"Someone is trying to take billions of euro away from renewables and sink them into technologies that either do nothing to fight the climate crisis, like nuclear, or which actively make the problem worse, like fossil gas."
But McGuinness defended the decision, and argued that the plan imposes safeguards on how nuclear and gas projects are conducted under sustainable finance rules.
The fight over the European Union's classification of power sources is the latest dust-up in discussions between the member states on how to achieve a net zero-carbon economy by 2050.
Brussels had high hopes that the EU would help set a global standard on determining sustainable projects and direct big flows of Wall Street money towards saving the planet.
To win the label, gas and nuclear projects are subject to constraints: projects must be approved by 2030 and 2045 respectively, as well as meet a long list of sector-specific criteria.
Ferreira--PC