Investments in nuclear power and natural gas projects could be labeled as sustainable under certain conditions, proposes the EU Commission.

On Wednesday, the Commission published a revised version of the proposal, which was originally presented on New Year’s Eve as part of the EU’s green taxonomy, reports Geman media DPA.

”The taxonomy helps mark the path for private investments to contribute to our climate targets,” says the EU Commissioner for Financial Services, Mairead McGuinness.

The controversial update of the legislation will according to DPA come into force four to six months from now, unless a majority of EU member states or the EU Parliament raise objections.

The amendments to the proposal for the EU’s green taxonomy are, according to Bloomberg News, that the proposal can now be scrutinized by national governments.

However, it will be difficult to block the proposal, as EU legislation requires that at least 20 member states reject that plan in order for this to happen.

The Netherlands and Denmark are among the countries opposing the proposal to label natural gas as ”green,” while Germany is working to phase out nuclear energy, opposes labeling this energy source as ”green”.

The purpose of the new taxonomy is to channel private investments toward the two energy sources in order to help the EU realize its climate target for 2050 of ”net zero” green house gas emissions through a reform of the energy sector.

The proposal is met with fierce opposition by environmental organizations, which say that gas and nuclear energy are not environmentally friendly energy sources, but the EU Commission views the two as crucial technologies in terms of increasing the number of sustainable energy sources.

On Wednesday, Ørsted CEO Mads Nipper stated that he hopes that natural gas will not be made part of the EU taxonomy. However, the chief executive does not worry that this will make it less attractive to invest in solar and wind energy.

”We don’t believe this lowers the pace of investments in renewable energy,” says Nipper.

LNG is mentioned by several major shipping players, including container lines Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM, as a necessary transitional fuel in the sector’s efforts to cut CO2 emissions and meet the IMO target of a 50 percent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050.

On the other hand, stakeholders such as Maersk and the World Bank reject the liquefied natural gas on the basis that it is still a fossil fuel.

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