BayWa CEO Prof. Klaus Josef Lutz warns against the EU taxonomy making the energy and climate turnaround more expensive and delaying it: "The current discussion massively overlooks the fact that companies that have been making a clear contribution to a climate-neutral energy supply for decades will soon be worse off than less sustainable business models as a result of the EU taxonomy.
While nuclear and natural gas power plants, which are obviously not sustainable, are to be given a green cloak, the trade in solar modules and green electricity are not included in the taxonomy criteria. They are thus not considered significant for sustainability and climate protection. This is absurd, considering the goal of the EU taxonomy: To reward companies that align their investments with sustainability and to strengthen their competitiveness."
The EU taxonomy is supposed to finance the transformation of the economy towards sustainability. In the current draft, however, it only covers parts of the value creation. Companies whose contribution to sustainability is not currently assessed as significant according to the EU taxonomy run the risk of being assessed as less sustainable than they actually are. As a result, they may no longer be able to use green financing instruments - the steering tool of the EU taxonomy - in the future. This applies to many sectors and to trade as a whole.
Prof. Klaus Josef Lutz: "Who is supposed to bring all the sustainable products to the market if not the trade? With all other requirements from Berlin or Brussels, the trade is also taken to task with conditions and appeals are made to its responsibility in terms of the environment, social consequences or good corporate governance. You can't say now with the EU taxonomy that trade is not making a substantial contribution to sustainability.”
The BayWa CEO believes that this will make it more difficult for the German government to achieve its goal of doubling the share of renewable energies in the electricity supply to 80 percent by 2030: according to the coalition agreement, the installed capacity in this country in the solar sector alone is to increase from 59 gigawatts (GW) at present to 200 GW in 2030.
For more information:
Antje Krieger
BayWa - Agriculture Segment
Tel.: +49 89 9222-3692
Fax: +49 89 9212-3692
Email: antje.krieger@baywa.de