Europe's energy crisis deepens after reopening the nuclear energy debate

Energy once again marks the turning point in European politics. After leaving behind a year marked by the energy crisis, 2022 begins the calendar facing a new episode in this situation after the European Commission recognised nuclear energy and natural gas as green energy until 2045.

The proposal, launched from Brussels, aims to achieve the transition to "clean energy", that is, to try to reduce CO2 emissions in the context of the EU's plan for 2050. This plan would also aim to promote Europe's energy independence, something that is currently going through a complex moment due to its heavy dependence on Russia.

In this respect, Russia supplies 38% of Europe's natural gas and current distribution routes are limited to just a few pipelines in a sector that is already poorly diversified.

This situation comes at a time when gas and electricity prices have risen by almost 500% in just one year. The factors behind this increase range from the climatic conditions themselves, marked by a cold winter and lack of wind, to the increase in demand in China. Added to this is the country's own dependence on Russia, which many European states believe to be one of the main causes of the crisis.

At present, more than a third of Europe's gas demand is directly dependent on Russia. In addition, countries such as Hungary and Bulgaria are almost totally dependent, while others such as Germany (60%), Italy (38%) and Austria (70%) are more partially dependent but equally significant.

The Brussels announcement also comes at a time when Germany has closed three of its six nuclear power plants in response to a plan to shut down atomic production by the end of the new year. In this vein, nuclear energy remains a controversial issue to which countries other than Germany have been reticent.

Spain has already refused to include nuclear energy as a "green option". According to the Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, "regardless of whether investments in one or the other can continue to be made, we consider that they are not green or sustainable energies". To this she adds that she considers that this option "makes no sense" and "sends the wrong signals for the energy transition of the EU as a whole".

In accordance with the regulatory framework set out in the European Green Pact, the green taxonomy is intended to guide both companies and national and international investors in plans related to sustainable environmental economic sectors, as well as those related to decarbonisation in order to contribute to these objectives. 

According to the Ministry, "the issue of nuclear energy waste calls into question the inclusion of both technologies in the EU's green taxonomy", which "sends the wrong signal to financial markets and does not provide the necessary clarity to focus capital flows towards the decarbonised economy".

The same position has been taken by Germany, which has already stated that "labelling nuclear energy and natural gas as sustainable undermines the credibility of the taxonomy". Alongside this, the Minister for the Environment and Energy, the environmentalist Leonor Gewessler, has denounced both nuclear energy and natural gas as "damaging to the climate and destroying the future of our children". 

These disparate positions on the part of the European partners have driven a wedge between states, making it more difficult to reach common ground on how to begin implementing the energy transition. 

On the other hand, France is one of the countries that has been most in favour of the Commission. This country, which has also held the presidency of the EU Council for the first time, has shown itself to be highly favourable to labelling these energies as green energies and to channeling the European path towards leading the energy transition.

Meanwhile, the executive has indicated that "the Commission sees a role for natural gas and nuclear as a means to facilitate the transition to a future based predominantly on renewables".

After consultation with European countries, Brussels intends to give the green light to the plan for the proposal to enter into force, although it will first have to be approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. Both the member states and the experts of the Sustainable Finance Platform will have until 12 January to send in their proposals.