Take part in Generation Atomic’s campaign to persuade the European Union to clear nuclear energy for green finance!
Scroll to the bottom if you want to take action!
In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s been some fantastic news for nuclear power in the European Union recently — EU experts have said nuclear qualifies as a sustainable technology.
This is a big deal, as the move is part of the EU’s attempt to finalise its Sustainable Finance Taxonomy. The taxonomy uses strict environmental criteria to determine which energy projects can be called sustainable. With this ‘officially sustainable’ label, projects can gain access to green finance initiatives — which will make them cheaper to build and run. This makes them much more attractive to investors around the world under pressure to create climate-friendly portfolios.
Nuclear missed out on being included last year when EU advisors from the Technical Expert Group requested more information about the environmental impact of nuclear waste. The European Commission asked its independent Joint Research Centre (JRC) to investigate.
Now the JRC has produced a report stating that nuclear power officially qualifies as green energy. “The analyses did not reveal any science-based evidence that nuclear energy does more harm to human health or to the environment than other electricity production technologies [in the taxonomy],” the report says. In other words, this means nuclear is as sustainable as solar or wind power.
Time for action
But nuclear isn’t out of the woods yet. Two expert committees will now scrutinise the JRC’s findings for three months before the commission makes its final decision. Not only that, but the usual suspects are campaigning against it —by smearing the JRC’s integrity.
So Generation Atomic is stepping up to the plate to take action in partnership with other NGOs in Europe. We joined 46 other groups from 18 countries in sending a letter to Ursula van der Leyen, president of the European Commission, calling for nuclear’s inclusion.
The next step is to communicate directly with EU Commissioners and Members of the European Parliament. That’s why we’re sending a new letter to commissioners and MEPs across the whole EU.
AND HERE’S WHERE YOU CAN HELP!!!
You can get involved too! You can send your own personalised copy of Generation Atomic’s letter to your MEP by following this link or heading to www.generationatomic.org/take-action/eu.
Tell the European Commission that we must side with the scientists — they should accept the findings of the JRC and classify nuclear energy as sustainable.
The more emails get sent, the better. And don’t forget to share this article as widely as possible on social media! You can also give The Kernel a follow here on Medium, and sign up to our newsletter below.
