Pipes are pictured at a gas compressor station in Mallnow, Germany, November 1, 2021. REUTERS/Hannibal HanschkeBRUSSELS, Jan 3 - The EU's executive on Monday rejected suggestions it waited until New Year's Eve to publish divisive proposals to allow some natural gas and nuclear energy projects to be labelled as sustainable, saying "we weren't trying to do it on the sly".
"Short of digging an actual hole, the European Commission couldn't have tried harder to bury this proposal," said Henry Eviston, spokesman on sustainable finance at the European Policy Office of the environmental group WWF."When the question was whether renewables are green, the Commission gave citizens three chances to provide their opinion.
"We weren't trying to do it on the sly, if you like, by going for Dec. 31," he said. "I can assure you our colleagues would much prefer to have been relaxing on holiday, but they decided to continue their work through the Christmas holidays to make sure this came out before the end of the year." Nuclear energy is similarly divisive. France, the Czech Republic and Poland are among those saying that no CO2 emissions from nuclear power means it has a big role in curbing global warming. Austria, Germany and Luxembourg are among those opposed, citing concerns around radioactive waste.
Of course they weren't...