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In Brussels, Habeck reaffirmed his no to »green« nuclear energy

2022-01-25T16:27:50.825Z


Nuclear power plants do not emit any CO₂, but are they therefore "green", as the EU Commission says? Economics Minister Robert Habeck has now officially contradicted - but left out natural gas in his criticism.


In Brussels, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) reiterated the government's no to classifying nuclear power as a sustainable energy source.

"I hope that the Commission will follow our recommendations and comments that nuclear energy is not sustainable energy," Habeck said after a meeting with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The Commission wants to classify natural gas and nuclear energy as »green« energies under certain conditions.

This would amount to a recommendation to financial investors to invest in nuclear and gas plants.

The Commission intends to present its final proposal from next week.

Habeck stressed that his "personal political opinion" was that "Germany should vote no" if nuclear energy "in the form in which it is now in there" remains part of the proposal.

On Saturday, the federal government spoke out to the EU Commission against classifying nuclear power as sustainable, but at the same time in favor of natural gas as a bridging technology.

The traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP struggled to find a common stance on this issue up to the last minute.

Conversion from gas to hydrogen

In Brussels, too, Habeck did not criticize the positive classification of natural gas as a fossil fuel.

However, he reiterated that gas-fired power plants should be converted to green hydrogen from 2035.

To this end, he called for an expansion of hydrogen technology in Europe.

At his meetings with other representatives of the EU Commission, such as Commission Vice-Presidents Margrethe Vestager, Valdis Dombrovskis and Frans Timmermans, the Economics Minister also advocated a rapid expansion of renewable energies.

The example of the Ukraine conflict shows "that geopolitical and security policy issues" are "connected" with climate policy, Habeck said.

»The phasing out of the combustion of fossil fuels also strengthens Europe geopolitically and protects the climate.« Due to the tensions with Russia, there are concerns in Europe that the gas supply would not be secure in a worsening conflict.

French Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire stressed in Brussels that nuclear power is essential in order to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas.

"What is currently happening on the border between Russia and Ukraine makes it clear that Europe's independence in energy matters is priceless," Le Maire told the European Parliament's Economic Affairs Committee.

France in particular is pushing for nuclear power to be classified as sustainable.

The country gets around 70 percent of its electricity from nuclear power plants and plans to build more.

Poland and other eastern countries that want to improve their climate balance with nuclear power are also in favour.

Criticism of Le Maire's statements came from the chairman of the Economic Committee in the European Parliament, Markus Ferber (CSU).

The Frenchman's statements on energy independence are "a bit simple".

They also don't take into account the problem of nuclear waste, Ferber explained.

mamk/AFP

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2022-01-25

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