OUT WITH SCIENCE, IN WITH LOBBYISTS: Gas, Nuclear and the EU Taxonomy

The report examines how the EU sustainable taxonomy, originally designed to be science-based, has been influenced by industry lobbying to potentially include fossil gas and nuclear energy. It argues that gas is not a sustainable transition fuel due to methane leaks and carbon lock-in, and that nuclear energy fails the 'do no significant harm' (DNSH) principle due to waste and safety risks. The document details the scale of lobbying efforts, identifying hundreds of meetings between EU officials and industry representatives, and criticizes the EU Commission for deferring decisions on these technologies to future legislation and relying on flawed technical reports.

• Fossil gas is not a sustainable transition fuel because methane leaks can make it worse for the climate than coal if leaks exceed 3%, and its use must be drastically reduced to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
• Nuclear power fails the 'do no significant harm' (DNSH) criteria due to risks of accidents, high water requirements, pollution from uranium mining, and the lack of long-term solutions for high-level radioactive waste storage.
• New nuclear energy is an inefficient tool for rapid decarbonization because construction timelines often span 10-19 years, potentially extending the operation of existing fossil-fueled plants.
• Gas industry lobbying in the EU is extensive, with 182 entities spending between €64.9 and €78.4 million annually and holding 323 meetings with EU officials between January 2020 and May 2021.
• Nuclear lobbying is highly concentrated, with 27 organizations spending between €6.3 and €7.9 million per year, and a significant increase in meetings with the Commission following the Technical Expert Group's (TEG) initial exclusion of nuclear.
• The EU Commission's Joint Research Committee (JRC) report on nuclear energy is criticized for being incomplete, specifically failing to evaluate accident probability in old plants, long-term waste repository consequences, and water conflicts.
• While the April 2021 delegated acts did not explicitly include fossil gas, the EU Commission deferred the decision to future legislation and adopted lenient criteria for hydrogen and 'low carbon gases' that may facilitate gas financing.

APA

Schreiber, P., Fontugne, S., Mazounie, A., Satow, A., & Pinson, L. (2021). OUT WITH SCIENCE, IN WITH LOBBYISTS: Gas, Nuclear and the EU Taxonomy. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Report-EU-taxonomy-Out-with-science-in-with-lobbyists-RF.pdf

Chicago

Schreiber, Paul, Stéphanie Fontugne, Alix Mazounie, Angus Satow, and Lucie Pinson. OUT WITH SCIENCE, IN WITH LOBBYISTS: Gas, Nuclear and the EU Taxonomy. Reclaim Finance, 2021. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Report-EU-taxonomy-Out-with-science-in-with-lobbyists-RF.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Schreiber |first1=Paul |last2=Fontugne |first2=Stéphanie |last3=Mazounie |first3=Alix |last4=Satow |first4=Angus |last5=Pinson |first5=Lucie |title=OUT WITH SCIENCE, IN WITH LOBBYISTS: Gas, Nuclear and the EU Taxonomy |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=July 2021 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Report-EU-taxonomy-Out-with-science-in-with-lobbyists-RF.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{schreiber2021out, author = {Schreiber, Paul and Fontugne, Stéphanie and Mazounie, Alix and Satow, Angus and Pinson, Lucie}, title = {{OUT WITH SCIENCE, IN WITH LOBBYISTS: Gas, Nuclear and the EU Taxonomy}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2021}, month = jul, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Report-EU-taxonomy-Out-with-science-in-with-lobbyists-RF.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }