The Austrian government said on Monday it had filed a complaint with the European Union’s highest court over the bloc’s executive plans to label natural gas and nuclear power generation as sustainable energy. .
Austrian Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler warned the measure could “green” nuclear power and gas despite the environmental damage they cause.
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Another EU member, Luxembourg, later announced it would support Austria in the court case, adding more political weight to the move.
Austrian Minister for Climate Protection, Technology and Innovation, Leonore Gewessler, pictured here in Vienna, Austria on April 20, 2021, helped bring legal action against the EU Executive Commission after announcing plans to label natural gas and nuclear power as sustainable energy.
(AP Photo/Lisa Leutner, File)
The EU’s Executive Commission plans to add some nuclear and gas power plants next year to a list that helps investors determine which projects are sustainable.
Gewessler said the Chernobyl disasters in Ukraine and Fukushima in Japan showed that nuclear power plants carry “incalculable risks”. Meanwhile, burning natural gas, a fossil fuel, adds greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere, fueling climate change.
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A dozen environmental groups have already launched legal challenges to the Commission’s plans, backed by lawmakers in the bloc in July.
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