DiEM25 has just launched Don’t Paint It Green, a campaign against the greenwashing of gas and nuclear that will pressure Members of the European Parliament until they commit to stopping an energy taxonomy labelling nuclear energy and gas as ‘sustainable’.

On the campaign’s website, people can join in by signing a petition, sending direct emails to MEPs or creating tweetstorms, as well as watch videos from prominent supporters such as Yanis Varoufakis, Sabrina Fernandes and Basav Sen.

Nuclear reactors are expensive, dangerous and take decades to build, while gas is a fossil fuel which is unsustainable by definition. With this proposal, the EU is attempting to square a circle in order to keep the profits flowing for the corporations whose lobbyists spend so much time mingling with officials in Brussels, at the expense of our future.

Whether the gas flows from Russia or authoritarian regimes elsewhere, it finances war machines that cost incalculable death and suffering through violence, on top of the environmental pollution. Corporations are lobbying the EU for more money and more infrastructure for these energy sources as we speak, and we must act now to prevent decades of setbacks in the fight for a green transition – time we cannot afford to lose.

Experts and people across Europe who oppose this destructive taxonomy all depend on politicians to stop it in its tracks now.

Quote by Dušan Pajović, DiEM25 Campaign Coordinator:

“I will not waste words explaining why adding a fossil fuel to the “green taxonomy” is bad. It just serves to unmask the corruption of Brussels’ career politicians. On the other hand, even if we had the decades required for a meaningful transition to nuclear power, doing so would entail a massive transfer of public funds to the handful of corporations that can build them, the expansion and maintenance of a pervasive military-industrial complex that would be required to guard them, and the permanent risks of accidents and weaponisation of radioactive material. Progressives must unite in fighting this cynical and potentially disastrous attempt at greenwashing by the EU”. 

Quote by Yanis Varoufakis, DiEM25 co-founder and Coordinating Collective member: 

“The re-classification of gas and nuclear as ‘green’ is a sad reminder of the cartel-like architecture of the European Union. Behind the façade of a union of democracies lies a union of Big Business. Behind the myth of a Europe of peoples lies the franco-german axis that pushed for a sordid quid-pro-quo: Paris agreed to green-wash the Russian gas on which German industry runs. And Berlin agreed to green-wash the French nuclear power industry. Hypocrisy thy name is EU green energy policy.”

For press inquiries please contact: 

Nadia Sales Grade

>> DiEM25 Press and media relations – European coordination

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