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European Commission accused of acting unlawfully in two separate cases bought by environment groups

The group of experts advising the European Commission on green finance has criticised plans by Brussels to label gas and nuclear power as a “transitional” source of energy under the EU’s sustainable finance taxonomy.

The European Commission said on Monday (10 January) it has delayed to later this month the deadline for experts to give feedback on divisive plans to allow some natural gas and nuclear energy projects to be labelled as sustainable investments.

The Commission drafted a plan late last year to add some gas and nuclear investments to the European Union’s “taxonomy,” its rule book to define which investments can be labelled as climate-friendly in the EU.

The European Commission on Tuesday (12 Octobre) issued €12 billion worth of green bonds on financial markets to finance the green parts of its €800 billion coronavirus recovery fund. This represents the world’s largest green bond issuance to date.

The European Commission has offered EU member states a greater role in deciding which technologies can be considered a sustainable investment in Europe after narrowly escaping a humiliating defeat last year over draft labelling rules for gas under its green finance taxonomy.

The European Union plans to label some gas power plants as sustainable investments, after an initial proposal to deny them a green label faced a backlash from a group of 10 EU member states.

The European Commission was forced to delay publication of detailed implementing rules on the EU’s sustainable finance taxonomy because of the sheer number of comments received and a threat of blockage from eastern and southern EU member states, EURACTIV can reveal.

From January 2026, all cars sold in Europe will need to emit zero grams of CO2 per kilometre in order to be considered "sustainable" under the EU's green finance taxonomy, according to a leaked draft seen by EURACTIV.

La finance verte est un champ en plein développement depuis l’accord de Paris, qui se situe à la croisée d’enjeux financiers, socioéconomiques et environnementaux.
Elle est de nature hybride : opérant avec des outils financiers, elle se concentre sur les questions environnementales, tout en appartenant au champ plus large de la finance dite « durable », qui adopte une approche élargie avec l’inclusion d’enjeux socioéconomiques et de gouvernance. Elle possède une capacité catalytique pour permettre et accélérer la transition vers une économie bas-carbone et se matérialise par une palette d’instruments qui se multiplient. Des obligations aux indices verts, en passant par les prêts verts, et par la mobilisation de capitaux en expansion, le secteur grandit quantitativement et qualitativement. À elles seules, les émissions de dette dite « verte » ont été multipliées par cinq en près de trois ans pour atteindre 257 milliards de dollars ($) en 2019, soulignant la force d’innovation et d’attraction à l’œuvre.
La finance verte permet d’embrasser les horizons divergents des acteurs publics et privés. Simple outil en apparence, elle pose néanmoins des questions majeures pour le futur de nos sociétés : choisir de ne financer que les secteurs déjà « verts » implique des risques socioéconomiques cruciaux tels que la perte d’emplois dans des secteurs fortement émetteurs (brown), et des actifs échoués (stranded assets). Faire le choix d’une approche séquencée revient potentiellement à verrouiller des activités polluantes sur le long terme et ne pas atteindre les objectifs de l’accord de Paris sur le climat (effet de lock-in).

In part one of this two-part series on the green transition, Upstream explores what happens when we simply paint capitalism green without addressing its fundamental global operating principles and processes.

Experts advising on the European Union's sustainable finance taxonomy are concerned a draft plan to include gas and nuclear relies too heavily on promises to make those fuels green in future, rather than assessing their real impact today.

Après des mois d’hésitation, la Commission européenne a enfin présenté un projet de labellisation des investissements nécessaires à la transition écologique. L’exercice est périlleux, car il n’existe pas de consensus au sein des Etats membres de l’Union européenne sur les moyens de parvenir en 2050 à la neutralité carbone, l’objectif que se sont fixé les Vingt-Sept dans le cadre de l’accord de Paris sur le climat. Pour contourner l’obstacle, Bruxelles fait preuve de pragmatisme afin que chaque pays puisse tenir cet agenda en fonction de ses propres choix énergétiques.

« Transition écologique, défis économiques ». Banques et fonds d’investissement multiplient les produits « verts ». D’anciens gérants et banquiers dénoncent aujourd’hui cette promesse, qu’ils considèrent comme une dangereuse diversion.

From his desk in midtown Manhattan Tariq Fancy once oversaw the beginning of arguably the biggest, most ambitious, effort ever to turn Wall Street “green”. Now, as environmentally friendly investing grows at an exponential rate, Fancy has come to a stark conclusion: “This is definitely not going to work.”
As the former chief investment officer for sustainable investing at BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, Fancy was charged with embedding environmental, social and governance (ESG) corporate policies across the investment giant’s portfolio.

Environmental campaigners are critical of whether this will be a “real commitment to green growth”.

The European Commission on Friday (20 November) launched "the world’s first ever ‘green-list’" of sustainable economic activities for private investors by publishing draft guidelines under the EU's green finance taxonomy.

An EU taxonomy to define green investments is expected to enter into force in 2021, but some experts want it to be used immediately to inform stimulus packages aimed at dealing with the social and economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic

With the bloc headed for a steep recession and its executive, the European Commission, drawing up a trillion-euro recovery plan, calls are growing from politicians, companies and campaigners to make sure the money does not prop up environmentally damaging industries.
The Commission had planned to introduce rules on which investments can be called "green" from 2021, forcing providers of financial products to disclose which investments meet the criteria - known as the EU "sustainable finance taxonomy".