Eduardo González
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, received yesterday in Madrid the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, with whom he agreed on his rejection of gas and nuclear energy being included in the European green taxonomy as “sustainable energies”.
“The Spanish and Danish governments believe that identifying gas and nuclear energy as sustainable energies sends the wrong signal to investors and to society as a whole, distancing us from the goal of decarbonization and sustainability,” said the President of the Government during the joint press conference, which was followed by a working lunch at the Moncloa Complex.
Both the Spanish Government and the Danish Government, he continued, have positioned themselves “clearly and firmly” before the European Council and the European Commission against considering investments in gas infrastructure or nuclear power plants as green investments, because this represents “a step backwards” and “puts at risk Europe’s commitment in its response to climate change”. “We are committed to the EU being a leader in the green transition,” he added.
The green taxonomy, proposed on January 1 by the European Commission with the aim of classifying energy according to its environmental footprint, defines nuclear power plants and natural gas as “green energies”, as France (for the former) and the former German government (for the latter) wanted. Nuclear power does not emit greenhouse gases but does generate hazardous waste, while natural gas emits CO₂ but does so in smaller quantities than coal or fuel oil-fired power plants. Austria, Luxembourg, Denmark and Spain are the most belligerent countries against this Brussels proposal, as are the green partners of the new German government.
For her part, Mette Frederiksen assured that the two governments are “on the same wavelength” on these issues and with regard to the fight against climate change and warned, along the same lines as Sánchez, that “the European Union has to lead the efforts in this fight”. She also assured that both Spain and Denmark are “well positioned to lead the green transition and to lead by example” and praised, in this sense, Spain’s “ambitious route in favor of the green transition.
The Danish Prime Minister also warned that Europe needs to “reduce energy dependence”. In this regard, the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, warned yesterday in Madrid that EU countries should prepare contingency plans for gas supply in order to prevent “the worst possible situation” in Ukraine, in relation to the possible outbreak of a war with Russia that would seriously affect the energy market.
“You cannot have only one supplier because that is unsustainable,” the commissioner said during an event organized by New Economy Forum. For this reason, she added, it is necessary to promote new agreements with countries such as Norway, Azerbaijan or Qatar to diversify supply, in the same way as Spain, which “has a very advantageous position” due to its agreements with Algeria and because it has “a very powerful network of energy terminals”.
