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Petroleum and petrochemical industrial park in Venezuela
Photo: Stringer / dpa
The European Parliament has cleared the way for investments in natural gas and nuclear power to be considered sustainable under certain conditions.
The so-called taxonomy rules for the financial market should therefore take effect from 2023.
Only a veto by 20 of the 27 EU member states could still prevent this, which is considered very unlikely.
The EU taxonomy is a classification system designed to steer private investment into sustainable economic activities to help fight climate change.
The taxonomy is relevant for companies because it influences the investment decisions of investors and could therefore have an impact on the financing costs of projects, for example.
Investors should also be able to avoid investments in climate-damaging economic sectors.
As a first step, a decision was made last year to classify electricity production with solar panels, hydroelectric power or wind power as climate-friendly.
At the end of last year, under pressure from some member states, the EU Commission responsible for legislative proposals also proposed classifying investments in gas and nuclear power plants as climate-friendly under certain conditions.
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dab/dpa