Brussels, Bucharest, Edinburgh – 20 September 2022
Since October 2020, Agent Green, represented by Dr. Theodor Cojoianu, has been appointed to the EU Platform on Sustainable Finance as one of the 57 elected members. Since then, the organization has contributed to several key outputs of the EU Platform, including the Platform’s Response to the Complementary Delegated Act , where we advised the Commission that gas and nuclear cannot be labelled green as part of the EU Taxonomy.
Given the clear opposition of the Platform to fossil gas being included in the Taxonomy, Agent Green were surprised to see a recent article in the publication Responsible Investor which alleged that the Commission interfered politically in the Platform, citing a meeting that occurred in March 2022. The organization is also surprised that the anonymous contributors to the article, which are likely the five NGOs which have resigned from the Platform, have blamed the Commission’s civil servants rather than the politicians responsible for the complementary delegated act in their departing statement.
Agent Green wishes to emphasise that the proponent to include fossil gas and nuclear in the Taxonomy has been Pascal Canfin, the former CEO of WWF France. This proposal has then been championed by Emmanuel Macron, who in turn for having nuclear in the Taxonomy, has promised Eastern Europe that they can have gas labelled as green. They are indeed the key people responsible for the political interference in the Taxonomy legislation, not EU Commission civil servants.
„We would have welcomed the quitting NGO community to emphasise the politicians responsible, not EU civil servants working tirelessly to make the legislation work in practice. We would have also welcomed WWF France to heavily criticize Mr. Canfin as its former CEO for such a damaging proposal for the environment. None of these happened to our knowledge.”, Theodor Cojoianu said.
Agent Green has chosen to remain as part of the EU Platform for the remaining month of the Platform’s mandate, precisely because its 57 elected members (now 52) have the possibility of expressing their independent views as part of the Platform’s outputs, regardless of whether politicians agree or not with the Platform’s advice.