AUSTRIA: EU court rejects Austrian case against nuclear, gas in EU green finance list

The EU’s General Court has upheld the European Commission’s controversial decision to classify nuclear and gas-fired power as sustainable investments, rejecting a lawsuit brought by Austria.

Under pressure from France and Germany in particular, the EU executive decided in 2022 to classify the two power sources as sustainable investments under the bloc’s new sustainable finance taxonomy, the EU’s list of approved green technologies. Austria challenged the move later that year in the EU court in Luxembourg.

On Wednesday, the court dismissed the case, stating: “The Commission was entitled to take the view that nuclear energy generation has near to zero greenhouse gas emissions.”

It added that alternative low-carbon energy sources were not available at sufficient scale.

“If this assessment holds true, then it destroys a fundamental principle. What is labelled green is no longer green inside,” said Leonore Gewessler, lead of Austria’s Greens, who filed the suit while serving as the country’s environment minister.

Austria can still appeal to the EU Court of Justice, the EU’s highest court.

“The decision to include gas and nuclear energy in the taxonomy never had a solid scientific basis. It is regrettable that the ECJ did not find the strength to correct such an obvious misjudgement,” said Markus Ferber, a German MEP from the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP).