The European Court of Justice has approved the consideration of gas and nuclear energy as sustainable investments.
Iberdrola is committed to adjusting the schedule of its power plants in Spain.
BarcelonaThe General Court of the European Union on Wednesday upheld the inclusion of aid for energy sources such as nuclear and gas in the sustainable investment scheme, based on the European Union's taxonomy regulation, which seeks to direct these flows toward energy decarbonization.
In 2022, the European Commission adopted another delegated regulation that established technical selection criteria for including certain activities in the nuclear and fossil gas sectors in the categories of activities that substantially contribute to climate change mitigation or adaptation. Austria filed an appeal against this decision for annulment.
Wednesday's ruling rejects the Austrian request and notes that the European Commission validly considered that, under certain conditions, certain economic activities related to nuclear energy and fossil gas can contribute to the regulation's energy decarbonization objectives. According to the General Court, the Community executive did not exceed its powers by including nuclear energy and fossil gas in the sustainable investment scheme.
Furthermore, the decision supports the approach according to which, under certain conditions, economic activities related to fossil gas can substantially contribute to mitigating and adapting to climate change.
Iberdrola wants to adjust the closure of nuclear plants
On the other hand, this Wednesday, the CEO of Iberdrola Spain, Mario Ruiz-Tagle, advocated making "adjustments" to the planned closure schedule for Spain's nuclear fleet, currently set for the period between 2027 and 2035. "The companies are available to discuss a review of the closure schedule for the plants," Ruiz-Tagle said. On the one hand, the CEO of Iberdrola Spain asserted that it is "probably" not necessary to alter the entire nuclear plant closure schedule, although he argued that "adjustments" can be made. "We have the cheapest nuclear generation prices in Europe at around 70 euros," he argued. "Without nuclear power, we will have a much more unstable system," lamented Ruiz-Tagle, who believes that, in this way, it would be "more difficult" to control tensions in an electrical system like Spain's.
