The EU Commission believes that consumers and investors should invest in a more environmentally and climate-friendly way. But what about so-called transition technologies? Opinions differ greatly.
The EU Commission wants to ensure that consumers and investors invest more money in sustainable goods and projects. A strategy presented on Tuesday envisages examining the promotion of green consumer and home building loans.
In addition, it should be ensured, among other things, that investors receive more information when making investment decisions about how companies take environmental, social and responsible corporate governance criteria into account.
The Green MEP Sven Giegold welcomed the fact that banks, insurance companies and rating agencies should now be committed to sustainability. At the same time, he criticized the fact that support for energy production from natural gas is still being considered as a transition technology in order to achieve climate goals.
“While the forests are burning around the world, the EU Commission wants to promote the construction of pipelines and gas-fired power plants,” commented the chairman of the green parliamentary group in the Committee on Economic and Financial Policy. The Commission is thus directing investments in plants that are not even close to reaching their full service life. The urgent transformation of the European economy towards real climate neutrality is being delayed.
Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, on the other hand, defended openness to the promotion of natural gas. “For member states that have to quickly get out of the much more polluting coal, natural gas can be the fastest and cheapest alternative,” he said on Tuesday in Strasbourg. However, it is only about the transition. Energy production from gas will also have to end in the end.
The German public utilities association VKU welcomed this view. “In order to achieve the 2030 climate goals, we need transition technologies – for example, combined heat and power plants based on gas that can be converted to hydrogen in the future,” said VKU General Manager Ingbert Liebing. The Federal Association of Energy and Water Management announced that gas-fired power plants and gas infrastructure only made it possible to phase out coal and nuclear energy at the same time. There must now be clear regulations as soon as possible, explained the chairman of the BDEW management board, Kerstin Andreae.
In addition to the new strategy for sustainable finance, the Commission proposed a regulation on a voluntary EU standard for green bonds on Tuesday. This should provide issuers with a robust instrument with which they can prove that they are financing green projects. At the same time, investors should be able to see more easily whether their investments are sustainable. Specifically, through reporting requirements, for example, complete transparency is to be achieved about how the proceeds from a green bond are used.
The CSU MEP Markus Ferber, however, was skeptical. “The commission complains that there are too many competing sustainability standards. Solving the problem by creating an additional standard is questionable, ”commented the EPP Group’s spokesman for economic policy. Ferber also pointed out unanswered questions about green government bonds. «A state budget is organized as a global budget. Education, social or armaments spending is difficult to force into a sustainability scheme, ”he said.
The General Association of the German Insurance Industry, on the other hand, was basically satisfied. “The EU Green Bond Standard helps to create a deep and liquid capital market for green bonds in Europe,” commented GDV General Manager Jörg Asmussen. However, it would be easier for small and medium-sized companies to issue green bonds if 100 percent of the funds raised did not have to flow into green activities and transition projects. More flexibility would be better at this point.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
