Joint declaration for a nuclear-free EU taxonomy

At a joint press conference on November 11, 2021, Carole Dieschbourg, Luxembourg's minister for the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development, presented a declaration for a nuclear-free taxonomy together with Ministers from Germany, Austria, Portugal and Denmark.

Minister Carole Dieschbourg made it clear that for Luxembourg, nuclear power cannot be labelled and marketed as a sustainable technology. Minister Dieschbourg clearly underlined that the inclusion of nuclear power in the EU's sustainable finance taxonomy would harm its credibility and its usefulness. According to the supporting countries, nuclear power is a high-risk and non-sustainable technology. Therefore it is no solution to the problems of climate change. In summary, nuclear power is too risky, too slow and too expensive.

Minister Dieschbourg emphasized: "To keep the 1,5°C temperature goal in focus, a deep transformation of the emitting sectors is needed in this decade. Nuclear power is not able to contribute to a fast and sustainable transition. Renewable energies are the building blocks for a sustainable, cheaper and safer future. Nuclear projects are terribly expensive and have several critical costs such as insurance, waste management and waste storage, that are still not accounted for.”

"An inclusion of nuclear power in the list of 'sustainable activities' of the EU taxonomy would represent a labelling fraud”, Luxembourg's minister for the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development said. "The trust of private and institutional investors who choose sustainable investment to support the energy transition in a positive way, would be massively damaged if their investments end up in supporting the nuclear energy sector through the backdoor."

For Luxembourg, transparency, market integrity and citiziens' trust into the green finance process are crucial for a sustainable energy transition. In closing, Carole Dieschbourg stated: "Including nuclear energy in the taxonomy would have massive negative consequences for the credibility, the safety and the transparency in Europe and around the world.”

Press release by the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development