European Greens have claimed a victory with the European Union agreement on green criteria for financing which will keep nuclear -- and also coal -- out of the mix. The new rules "will free up private investment in a green economy and make them cheaper," Green MEP Sven Giegold told Euractiv. While coal is explicity excluded,"the environmental protection standards (do-no-harm principle) are so high that [nuclear] would be de facto excluded," according to Giegold.
France had sought to maintain nuclear in the mix, but the leadership of Germany, Austria and Luxembourg succeeded in excluding it.
Reports Euractiv: "The ‘no-harm’ test “will help avoid nuclear energy from being considered an environmentally sustainable investment,” the Greens said in a statement to the press."
The deal is effectively a "framework for a taxonomy of environmentally sustainable activities, which is set to form the basis on which investors marketing financial products will have to back up any environmental sustainability claims," reported IPE.