(Montel) Austria, Denmark, Luxembourg and Spain continue to oppose natural gas and nuclear in the EU’s sustainable finance taxonomy.

The European Commission’s proposed conditions under which investments in natural gas-fired and nuclear power plants would be deemed “green” in a draft updated taxonomy sent “the wrong signals to financial markets and seriously risks being rejected by investors,” the countries’ energy and climate ministers said in response to a recent draft proposal.

The taxonomy aims to help investors identify suitable projects that support the EU’s climate goals. It does not require investments in projects that meet the criteria nor prohibit investments in projects that do not.

The ministers argued, however, that the long lifetimes of natural gas and nuclear plants meant that including them in the taxonomy could lock in their use for many decades and divert investments away from renewables. They also criticised conditions based on “future promises”, which for natural gas included a timeline to switch to low-carbon and renewable gases, and for nuclear included a plan for dealing with high-level radioactive waste by 2050.

Reporting by: Siobhan Hall