To:
Commissioner Mairead McGuinness
Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis (cc)
Commissioner Kadri Simson (cc)
Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans (cc)
European Commission, Rue de la Loi 200, Brussels
Subject: The proposal to include fossil gas-based activities in the EU Taxonomy for
Sustainable Activities
Dear Commissioner,
The climate and energy transition is fundamental to achieve sustainable development. To reach the
EU’s climate and energy targets for 2030 and beyond, it is of
paramount importance that
investments are redirected towards sustainable economic activities. The EU Taxonomy can serve as
the gold standard in guiding this reallocation in Europe and beyond, and therefore the integrity and
ambition of the Taxonomy should not be compromised.
We, the undersigned, would like to draw your attention to our common concerns with respect to
the inclusion of fossil gas in the latest draft of the complementary delegated act. We emphasise
that the lack of scientific evidence for including fossil gas in the Taxonomy should lead to a
reconsideration of the proposal by the European Commission.
We would like to point out that the 1.5 degree objective and the importance of avoiding lock-in of
assets incompatible with the achievement of climate neutrality are enshrined in the Taxonomy
Regulation. More specifically, the Platform for Sustainable Finance stated, with reference to reports
by the International Energy Agency and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that the
classification of investments in fossil gas-fired activities as sustainable, even under the proposed
criteria, is largely incompatible with the path towards a maximum of 1.5 degrees increase in
temperature.
Therefore, we call upon the European Commission to not include any fossil gas activities as
sustainable in the current Taxonomy, as long as these activities are not subject to the same
standards as other energy technologies, namely the 100 gram CO
2e
/kWh threshold. In this context,
we would also like to refer to the ongoing work of the Platform on Sustainable Finance on possible
extensions of the current Taxonomy to include significant harm activities and intermediate
performance levels.
We encourage the Commission to consider our common concerns.
Sincerely yours,
Rob Jetten
–
Minister for Climate and Energy for the Netherlands
Leonore Gewessler - Federal Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation
and Technology for Austria
Khashayar Farmanbar
–
Minister for Energy and Digital Development for Sweden
Dan Jørgensen - Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities for Denmark
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