Is nuclear sustainable? Read the label

Jul 08, 2022 View in browser   By Debra Kahn THE WEEK THAT WAS Nuclear power gets a new green label. | John Zeedick/AP Photo SHADES OF GREEN — The European Union broadened its definition of sustainable energy this week to include things not everyone agrees on — and triggered a fight. The vote to include natural gas and nuclear power in the list of activities the EU is trying to encourage private investors to support was billed as a "pragmatic approach." It's also backed by Ukrainian officials, who say it should help reduce reliance on Russian gas. But it's getting major pushback — from scientists, sustainable investor groups and the European Commission's own finance advisers, who argue the rules will divert money from truly green projects to prop up legacy industries and allow emissions to rise further, as POLITICO's America Hernandez reports. Under the new rules, countries heavily reliant on coal and oil for electricity will be able to replace them with less-polluting gas-fired power through 2030 and advertise the switch as sustainable to investors, as long as the plants switch to a clean-burning fuel like hydrogen by 2035 and respect a 20-year cap on greenhouse gas emissions. Existing nuclear plants, which produce CO2-free electricity, will also get to be called climate-friendly if operators draw up safety plans showing where their radioactive waste will be permanently stored by 2050 and switch to so-called accident-tolerant fuels by 2025. Activist investor groups are warning that watering down the sustainable designation will backfire. "Calling gas sustainable, even as a 'transition' fuel, will not convince climate-change conscious investors, and it will make the taxonomy lose its usefulness as a tool to orient capital flows towards sustainable economic activities," said Thierry Philipponnat, chief economist at watchdog group Finance Watch. The United Nations' Principles for Responsible Investment, which represents more than 5,000 investors managing €167 trillion ($169 trillion right now — great time to go to Europe) in sustainable assets, warned that blindly trusting the EU's green labels "could prompt fragmentation across the market and lead to potential greenwashing." NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE PT. II — U.S. environmentalists were similarly dismayed this week by Pacific Gas & Electric's announcement that it will try to keep California's remaining nuclear plant open past its planned retirement. A PG&E spokesperson told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the utility plans to apply for an Energy Department grant aimed at helping keep nuclear plants open. Diablo Canyon accounts for almost 9 percent of the state's electricity generation, and officials are worried about reliability this summer and in years to come. The move follows support from Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers in last week's state budget to fund agency power purchases from Diablo Canyon and natural gas plants when supplies run low. It's an about-face from 2016, when environmentalists and labor unions representing plant workers came to a state-approved agreement to shut down the plant starting in 2024. (NB: Diablo would have stayed open had California decided to let nuclear count toward its green electricity requirements in 2015.) "Instead of propping up outmoded nuclear plants, Newsom should instead be providing more resources and funding to deploy renewable energy infrastructure across California," Sierra Club California director Brandon Dawson said in a statement. Austria, Luxembourg and green groups have already said they'll sue the European Commission over its new rules. California environmentalists may also try suing to enforce the closure agreement, the SDUT reports.   INTRODUCING POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don't miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY.     WASHINGTON WATCH COURT FALLOUT — Lots of thoughts this week on how the Supreme Court's ruling in West Virginia v. EPA could affect the Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure rule. Republicans are brandishing the decision as a new weapon against the rule. But there's not much in it that indicates how the court would evaluate whether other agency actions fall under the court's "major questions" doctrine, legal experts told Avery Ellfeldt of POLITICO's E&E News. Lawyers point out that the SEC has rooted its proposal in its basic mission from Congress: providing investors with the information they need to make financial decisions. That distinguishes its rule from EPA's, which based its relatively novel rules for power plants on a specific, narrow statutory authority. But it may not matter. "Red states and certain funded organizations have made it very clear they want this rule dead, and I think that they can find an appeals court to kill it for them," Madison Condon, an associate environmental law professor at Boston University, told E&E News' Lesley Clark and Niina H. Farah. The Supreme Court decision is just one more pathway for opponents to try. They could also focus on other arguments, including First Amendment violations, to attack the SEC rule, she said. "I think it's a mistake to focus too much on the doctrine at this point, rather than the politics," Condon said. YOU TELL US Team Sustainability is editor Greg Mott, deputy editor Debra Kahn, and reporters Lorraine Woellert and Jordan Wolman . Reach us at gmott@politico.com, dkahn@politico.com, lwoellert@politico.com and jwolman@politico.com. Want more? You can have it. Sign up for the Long Game. Four days a week and still free. That's sustainability! WHAT WE'RE CLICKING — Workers still aren't coming back to the office, snacks and happy hours notwithstanding. — The Transportation Department is proposing to track emissions from driving in each state. — A large marine mammal is making a rare recovery — fin whales are returning to their Antarctic feeding grounds for the first time in decades. LOOK AHEAD Events are listed in Eastern Time. July 11 — The Center for Strategic and International Studies holds a virtual discussion on "U.S. States on Energy and Climate: Massachusetts." 1 p.m. July 11 — Brookings Metro holds a virtual event on "State legislators and the future of transportation." 2 p.m. July 11 — The UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation and the Public Health Alliance of Southern California hold a webinar on extreme heat mapping. 4 p.m. July 12 — PunchBowl News holds a virtual discussion on how to regulate capital markets and financial reporting. 9 a.m. July 12 — The Alliance for Automotive Innovation holds a forum on "vehicle-to-everything" technology. Noon. July 13 — The Securities and Exchange Commission meets to consider changes to rules governing proxy voting advice and substantive bases for excluding shareholder proposals. 10 a.m. July 13 — The Bipartisan Policy Center holds a virtual discussion on "Implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: Improving Permitting at FPISC." 2 p.m. July 13 — The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Energy Subcommittee holds a hearing on "Pathways To Lower Energy Prices." 2:30 p.m. July 14 — The Aspen Institute holds an event on "The Biden Competition Agenda, One Year In." 3 p.m.   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.       Follow us on Twitter Debra Kahn @debra_kahn Greg Mott @gwmott Lorraine Woellert @Woellert Jordan Wolman @jordanwolman   Follow us

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