EU must drop gas from green taxonomy proposal – MEPs

European Parliament members say inclusion of gas in green finance taxonomy undermines response to invasion of Ukraine

A group of 104 members of the European Parliament has demanded the European Commission abandon proposals to include gas in its sustainable finance taxonomy. The MEPs argue the inclusion of gas under a delegated act proposed before the invasion of Ukraine undermines Europe’s efforts to end its reliance on Russian gas in response to the crisis and must be dropped. The taxonomy defines sustainable projects and acts as a key investment driver for the sectors included. A plan called RepowerEU, unveiled by the Commission last week, calls for Europe to respond to Moscow’s actions by becoming independent of Russian gas—which provided 45pc of imports in 2021— well before 2030. Under the plan, the EU