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European campaign group Transport and Environment (T&E) has accused the European Commission of greenwashing following the latest update to the EU’s taxonomy criteria for ‘environmentally sustainable’ economic activities.
The European Commission on Wednesday (5 April) launched a four-week feedback period on a new set of EU taxonomy criteria for economic activities making a substantial contribution to the region’s environmental objectives, namely: sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources, transition to a circular economy, pollution prevention and control and protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems.
According to the Commission, the taxonomy aims to help scale up investments in projects and activities that are necessary to reach the objectives of the European Green Deal and reach the EU’s 2030 emissions reduction goals.
However, T&E claims the latest round of changes could see green investments funnelled to “big polluters” such as Airbus, Ryanair, MSC and Carnival Cruises.
According to the group, the updated list of sustainable investments could see the green label given to more ‘efficient’ aircraft and ships regardless of whether they still run on fossil fuels.
“The inclusion of polluting planes and ships is the nail in the coffin of the EU’s Taxonomy,” said T&E shipping director Faig Abbasov.
“If planes running on oil and ships running on gas are now considered sustainable, there is little hope for the Taxonomy. Europe’s lawmakers must vote down this measure and save what’s left of it,” he added.
T&E claims that under the EU’s Taxonomy more than 90 per cent of Airbus’ order book could be considered green, while nearly a third of low-cost carrier Ryanair’s future fleet would pass the threshold.
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