"The European Union has drawn up plans to classify some nuclear power and natural gas plants as green investments that can help Europe cut planet-warming emissions, a landmark proposal that, if approved, could set off a resurgence of nuclear energy on the continent in the coming decades."

"Finally, the European Union has admitted the obvious: if decarbonization is the goal, natural gas and nuclear must be a big part of the continent’s energy mix. On Saturday, the European Commission released a statement which said “there is a role for natural gas and nuclear as a means to facilitate the transition towards a predominantly renewable-based future.” The move means that gas and nuclear could be classified as “sustainable investments” under certain conditions.

This is good news and a tacit acknowledgement by European policymakers of the energy disaster that is now shaking the region. But it’s also far too late in coming. Indeed, my immediate response was to ask: what the heck took them so long? If decarbonization is the goal, then natural gas and nuclear are the obvious ways forward. I have been making that point for more than a decade. More on that in a moment.

To be sure, the EU’s move didn’t please the catastrophists. Robert Habeck, a co-leader of Germany’s Green party called the move “greenwashing.” Leonore Gewessler, the climate action minister in Austria, said gas and nuclear couldn’t be included because they are “harmful to the climate and the environment and destroy the future of our children.”

That's fair enough for nuclear, but it would be very hard to justify including natural gas plants in that category.

There's an interesting article by Robert Bryce:

http://forbes.com/sites/robertbryce/2022/01/05/eu-finally-admits-natural-gas-and-nuclear-are-key-to-decarbonization/?sh=cba4eec76636

"The New York Times summarized the move by saying gas and
nuclear would be considered "transitional" sources to be
"used to bridge countries' moves away from coal and
carbon-emitting power toward clean energy technologies like
wind and solar."

"It continued saying nuclear would be considered sustainable
if the countries can agree on how to handle nuclear waste
and that gas fired power plants would be deemed okay if
they meet certain emissions criteria and replace more
polluting fossil fuel plants."

The author Robert Bryce is an American author and journalist
based in Austin Texas. He has regularly been cited as an
"expert" on energy issues in the media.

But he's been under increased scrutiny after writing
numerous articles in media outlets that did not disclose his
ties to the fossil fuen industry.

There's more at:

http://desmog.com/robert-bryce/

It is simply terminology. If the same clowns can label cutting down US forests to fire a Pommy powerhouse as green, this is a much less ridiculous bit of rubbish.

What these clowns need to do is make sure their population have power & jobs, before they go off glorifying themselves as world saviors. Quite obviously to any intelligent being, nuclear is a damn sight more green than windmills & solar that require vast amounts of mining & nasty refining processes to even get made, let alone installed, as is gas.

Gas only requires a very small hole to harvest it, so is actually the greenest form of energy available with our current technology. Only a useful idiot would believe windmills & solar are less polluting than gas.

Germany's remaining three nuclear plants — Emsland, Isar and Neckarwestheim — will be closed by the end of 2022. ... “Nuclear power plants remain high-risk facilities that produce highly radioactive atomic waste,” she told the Funke media group this week.31 Dec 2021.

Foxy,

In the same article:

"Before going further, let me state the obvious: Europe cannot — will not — move to “a predominantly renewable-based future.” The never-ending claims that Europe, or any other region with a large economy, can run solely on “clean energy technologies like wind and solar,” are not based on history, math, or physics. Indeed, Europe is already in the throes of an energy crisis due to its headlong rush to adopt renewables at the expense of traditional thermal power plants."

Secondly, the practise of trying to delegitimize Robert Bryce because he belongs to an association that gets donations from many sources including a few linked to oil companies is moronic.