Legal & Regulatory News

European Commission commences consultations on Taxonomy Complementary Delegated Act covering nuclear and gas activities

On 1 January 2022, the European Commission announced that it had commenced expert consultations with the Platform on Sustainable Finance and the Member States Expert Group on Sustainable Finance on the draft text of a complementary Delegated Act (the Complementary Delegated Act) to the Taxonomy Regulation ((EU) 2020/852), covering nuclear and natural gas activities.

The Complementary Delegated Act will supplement Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139 relating to climate change mitigation and adaptation, which has applied since 1 January 2022 and which sets out technical screening criteria defining which activities contribute to the environmental objectives set out in the Taxonomy Regulation.

Although the text of the Complementary Delegated Act has not been made available yet, the European Commission's latest announcement indicates that it believes:

• there is a role for natural gas and nuclear activities as a means to facilitate the transition towards a predominantly renewable-based future; and
• these energy sources need to be classified under clear and tight conditions (for instance, gas must come from renewable sources or have low emissions by 2035).

The announcement also signals that Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2178, supplementing Article 8 of the Taxonomy Regulation (the Taxonomy Disclosure Delegated Act), will be amended to ensure investors are able to identify whether activities include natural gas or nuclear activities, and to what extent, so that they can make an informed choice.

The expert consultations were initially due to end on 12 January 2022, but have now been extended until 21 January 2022. The European Commission is expected to formally adopt the Complementary Delegated Act in January 2022 and send it out to the European Parliament and Council of the European Union for scrutiny.