The EU Taxonomy for sustainable activities (EU Taxonomy) became law in July 2020, but the law left several decisions to be finalized in “delegated acts.” These decisions required additional technical evaluation. The treatment of nuclear energy was one of those technical issues. On December 31, 2021, a draft delegated act was published that recognized that nuclear energy could make a substantial contribution to the reduction of CO2 emissions.

In other words, nuclear energy is considered a sustainable, “green” investment. There are some conditions that are still being debated. //

As a result of intensive politicking and compromise, the delegated act also includes provisions for the inclusion of natural gas in the EU Taxonomy. Both nuclear energy and natural gas are recognized as useful tools, but both technologies must meet specific conditions and restrictions to be considered “sustainable.”

Including natural gas sounds like a cop-out to many climate activists, but it is part of a political compromise seen as necessary to avoid German rejection of the delegated act. Replacing coal with natural gas might be a reasonable step forward for the climate, but it risks deepening European energy dependence on Russia. That’s not one of the considerations influencing the EU Taxonomy.

Many articles on this subject give the impression that there is a balance between the countries that oppose nuclear and those who want it to be recognized for its obvious attributes. Those articles usually list Germany as leading a group of opponents and France leading a group of supporters. Most of those articles name two or three countries in each camp.

There are five EU members that strong oppose nuclear’s inclusion (Germany, Austria, Denmark, Luxembourg and Spain) while there are at least 10 who have formally expressed their support to the European Commission in a letter sent in mid December 2021 (France, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania). After that letter was sent, the Netherlands announced that their CO2 reduction plans would include a major reliance on nuclear power.