2023-04-18 05:00:34
WWF: “Including natural gas in the catalog of climate-friendly investments is legalized greenwashing”
Vienna/Brussels (OTS) – The environmental protection organization WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) together with three other organizations are today filing a complaint with the European Court of Justice against the inclusion of natural gas in the EU’s “climate taxonomy”. This was originally intended to become a benchmark for the financial sector in Europe as a catalog for climate-friendly investments. “In its current form, the taxonomy is legalized greenwashing. Billions would continue to flow into climate-damaging industries. We are therefore filing a lawsuit against the legal act today,” says Jakob Mayr, expert on sustainable finance at WWF Austria. Since the issue of nuclear power is already being dealt with in another case, the lawsuit brought by the WWF office in Brussels, together with ClientEarth, Transport & Environment and BUND, is directed against the inclusion of fossil gas in the EU taxonomy.
With the inclusion of natural gas, the European Union is not only violating its obligations under the Paris climate agreement, it is also violating the European climate law and even the taxonomy regulation itself. Because this stipulates that the classification of technologies must be scientifically sound – the However, classifying gas as “sustainable” violates the express recommendation of the scientific advisory board involved. “Also, many financial institutions are already a big step ahead and have excluded fossil gas from their lending policies – such as the European Investment Bank since 2019. In the global green bond market it is common practice to exclude fossil gas. The EU taxonomy thwarts this development and sends a completely wrong signal.”criticizes Jakob Mayr from the WWF.
Natural gas is responsible for 20 percent of domestic greenhouse gas emissions
Together with oil and coal, fossil gas is one of the biggest climate killers worldwide and is responsible for 20 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in Austria alone. The methane released during production is particularly problematic – its climate-damaging effect is more than 80 times greater than that of CO2. Added to this are the high economic costs, because most of the natural gas has to be imported at great expense. “The greenwashing of natural gas puts us in a fatal impasse that threatens our energy independence and undermines all climate protection efforts. Above all, Europe must invest in energy saving programs and nature-friendly renewable energy sources instead of creating new fossil dependencies,” demands Jakob Mayr from the WWF.
Background to the procedure
Unlike the Member States, environmental organizations do not have direct access to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). To file a case like this, they must first submit an administrative step called an “internal review request.” This first step took place in September 2022. After a negative answer from the Commission, the way to the ECJ is now clear.
Current press photos of a joint action today in Brussels are available from around 11 a.m. under this link.
Questions & contact:
Alexa Lutteri
Spokeswoman WWF Austria
Phone: +43 676 834 88 240
E-mail: alexa.lutteri@wwf.at
1681794651
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