The European Commissioner of the Internal Market explains, in an interview at the “JDD” that it is “crucial” to open the green labeling to nuclear in the framework of the energy transition.
Le Monde with AFP
New generation European nuclear power plants will require an investment of “500 billion [euros] by 2050”, estimates in an interview at Sunday Journal (JDD) dated 9 January The European Commissioner at the domestic market, Thierry Breton, who judges “crucial” to open the green labeling to nuclear in the framework of the energy transition.
“Existing nuclear power plants alone will require 50 billion euros of investments by 2030. and 500 billion by 2050 for new generation!”, affirms the French Commissioner.
On December 31, the European Commission unveiled a green labeling project for nuclear and gas power plants, which aims to facilitate the financing of facilities contributing to climate change.
This classification, or “taxonomy”, defines areas of investment that will benefit from green labels. The European Objective of Carbon Neutrality in 2050 involves the mobilization of colossal investments: taxonomy is designed to obtain funding for favorable conditions.
“Allow the sector to attract the capital “
For Thierry Breton, “Include nuclear power in taxonomy is therefore crucial to allow the sector to attract all the capital it will need”.
“The ecological transition will result in an industrial revolution of unpublished magnitude. As well as a race to the capital between the various energy sources – renewable energies will have for example to mobilize 65 billion euros of investments per year. . And it will be necessary to add to that 45 billion annual investments to have additional network infrastructures, “he said.
While 26% of the electricity produced in the European Union is today atomic, it considers that “nuclear power will represent at least 15% of the set [energy mix] in 2050”.
The subject is subject to vivid debates between the twenty-seven, a dozen countries – France in mind – making the active promotion of nuclear power in the face of very reluctant states at the civil atom, such as Germany or Austria.
The Commission sent its proposal for text, discussed for months and still provisionally, to the Member States on 31 December. The text sets conditions, including a time limitation: for the construction of new atomic power plants, the projects will have to have obtained a building permit before 2045.