Austria Appeals Against Taxonomy Ruling in Dispute over “Green” Nuclear Power and Gas
Austria is continuing its fight against the classification of nuclear energy and gas as sustainable under the EU Taxonomy Regulation. Following the rejection of its lawsuit by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg in September, the Austrian government has now appealed against the ruling. This was announced by the Austrian Ministry of the Environment.
The Austrian Ministry of the Environment is appealing the taxonomy ruling to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the dispute over “green” nuclear power and gas. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / Cédric Puisney from Brussels, Belgium [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]
The decision follows a thorough legal review of the ruling. The government maintains its position that the classification of nuclear power and gas as “green” is fundamentally wrong.“Classifying nuclear power as sustainable is misguided and contradicts the basic idea of taxonomy. That is why we are taking this further legal step,” emphasized Environment Minister Norbert Totschnig (ÖVP) in a press release.
The background to the legal dispute
The EU Taxonomy Regulation was expanded in 2022 to create a classification system for environmentally sustainable economic activities. It is particularly important for the financial sector, as it defines which investments can be considered “green” and thus attract cheaper capital under certain circumstances. The EU Commission had subsequently included natural gas and nuclear power in the system as transitional technologies under certain conditions.
Austria had already filed an action for annulment against this so-called supplementary delegated act with the General Court in October 2022. At the time, Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler expressed fears that the Union would thus be “harnessed to the cart of the fossil fuel and nuclear lobby.”
Austria's legal argument
The appeal now lodged is based on several legal points. From an Austrian legal perspective, the court applied an incorrect standard of review. In addition, the contested regulation was adopted in violation of important procedural rules.
Another key point is the argument that there has been a breach of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Austria thinks that the regulation regulates fundamental issues in the policy area and that the Commission has thus exceeded its powers. The appeal will now be heard by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the highest court in the EU. Appeals against judgments of the General Court are possible within a certain period of time, but are limited to points of law.