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ENVIRONMENT

Austria challenges EU ‘green’ nuclear label in court

Austria on Friday filed a complaint with the top EU court over the bloc's decision to label nuclear power as green, the climate ministry said.

Garigliano nuclear plant, Italy
Austria has been fiercely against nuclear energy. (Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP)

The European Parliament in July approved a European Union proposal giving a sustainable finance label to investments in gas and nuclear power, sparking claims of “greenwashing” by environmental lobbyists.

Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler said Austria had filed the complaint ahead of Monday’s deadline.

“Nuclear energy and gas are neither green nor sustainable,” she said in a statement, adding she would give more details on Monday.

Austrian daily Kurier reported Friday that the complaint had been filed, adding it had little chance of success according to legal experts.

READ ALSO: Austria to add €0.25 deposit to price of cans and plastic bottles

The European Commission had defied protests from green campaigners and dissent in its own ranks to put a green label on gas and nuclear power.

It had argued that both have a role to play as cleaner power sources during the transition to a net-zero carbon future.

Gewessler had vowed Austria would file legal action against labelling nuclear energy as green, describing it as “outdated” and “too expensive” and highlighted safety concerns and uncertainty over how to deal with nuclear waste.

The Alpine nation of nine million people — which depends heavily on gas — has been fiercely anti-nuclear for decades.

An unprecedented vote by its population in 1978 prevented its only nuclear plant — meant to be the first of several — from starting operations.

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ENVIRONMENT

EU top court rules against Austria wolf hunting

The European Union's top court ruled Thursday that Austria had no right to hunt wolves, after activists contested killings of the protected species in the Alpine nation.

EU top court rules against Austria wolf hunting

Several regions of Austria started to allow wolves to be killed last year after reporting that the animals were increasingly attacking livestock.

Environmental groups brought a case to court in Austria’s Tyrol province, arguing that hunting wolves violated an EU directive adopted in 1992 protecting the animals.

The Tyrol court asked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for guidance.

“A derogation from that (wolf hunting) prohibition to prevent economic damage is only to be granted if the wolf population is at a favourable conservation status, which is not the case in Austria,” the ECJ said in its ruling.

“The Austrian government has itself admitted that the wolf population in Austria is not at a favourable conservation status.”

Twenty wolves have been killed in Austria since last year, according to the country’s Bear-Wolf-Lynx Centre.

NGOs estimated there were around 80 individual wolves in the country in 2022, marking a gradual return of an animal that disappeared in the 19th century.

Regional Austrian governments have appealed for the wolves’ protection status to be reduced, saying it is no longer threatened.

Following the ruling, the Tyrol government said the regulations it had passed to allow wolves to be shot had “proved their worth” and vowed to continue allowing the animals to be killed.

Tyrol said decisions to kill the animals were made on a “case-by-case basis” and took into account “the special features of our alpine farming”.

In its response to the ruling, Austria’s branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) urged politicians to “move away from their populist false solutions”.

Austria’s provinces have also failed to “utilise EU funds to promote livestock protection measures or train shepherds” unlike other countries, the NGO said in a press release.

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