Recognize the contribution of nuclear energy in the fight against climate change and include this sector in a list of "sustainable" investments to facilitate financing: such is the request formulated on Friday by the French Minister for Economy, Bruno Le Maire, to his EU counterparts at a meeting in Kranj (Slovenia).
“Either we fight climate change with an ideological approach and we will fail, or we fight climate change with a scientific approach and in this case we will succeed.
But that means recognizing the added value of nuclear energy, ”said the French minister.
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The European Commission must propose before the end of the year a list of energies considered as virtuous both for the climate and the environment (“green taxonomy”).
This classification will open up access to green finance and give a competitive advantage to recognized sectors, a crucial issue for the renewal of the French nuclear fleet.
Germany and Austria opposed to the atom
The subject divides the member states.
If France, Poland and the Czech Republic defend the atom, countries like Germany and Austria are fiercely opposed to it, like many NGOs who see it as a risky technology.
The “taxonomy” proposed by Brussels could be rejected by MEPs or a majority of Member States.
"I just want to remind other Member States and European citizens that two expert reports have reached the same conclusion, namely that nuclear energy is necessary to fight against climate change", pleaded Bruno Le Maire.
"There is no reason why nuclear energy should not be included by the end of the year in European taxonomy", he insisted.
In June 2019, a group of experts on sustainable finance concluded that nuclear energy, which emits virtually no CO2, could "help mitigate climate change" - but without concluding on its potential environmental damage. In a report delivered at the end of March, the scientific service of the European Commission (Joint Research Center, JRC) estimated that "no analysis provides scientific evidence that nuclear energy harms human health or the environment more than other energies ”likely to integrate taxonomy.