UK Civil Society Calls on MEPs to Halt Approval of “Green” Finance List
Originally published on Transport & Environment.
By Eoin Bannon
More than 90 environmental and consumer groups have today appealed to the European Parliament not to accept sustainable finance rules that would allow logging and the burning of trees to be counted as green investments. In a public letter, groups such as Transport & Environment (T&E), WWF, Greenpeace, and BEUC call on the 705 MEPs to suspend scrutiny of the EU Commission’s taxonomy of green investments until other crucial pieces of legislation on bioenergy, gas, nuclear energy, and agriculture are disclosed later this year.
Intense lobbying by Sweden and Finland in particular led to the deletion of science-based criteria for forestry and bioenergy, the 91 groups write. As a result, indiscriminate logging and the burning of trees for energy would be greenwashed by the Delegated Act on sustainable finance that MEPs have been asked to approve by December.
William Todts, executive director at T&E, said: “This taxonomy will direct green finance to good things like solar and wind power generation and electric cars and trucks. But without safeguards, it will also open the door to destructive forestry practices and highly emitting biomass. MEPs should not let this pass until they can see the other green laws in the pipeline.”
Civil society is demanding that “nothing is agreed until all is agreed”, fearing that the Commission is trying to dilute the bad news across a number of legal measures rather than putting them to MEPs all at once. This is the first of three Delegated Acts that will list which activities can be marketed to investors as green.
MEPs should withhold their approval until the Commission says whether fossil gas power plants should be labeled sustainable – a decision delayed until a later Delegated Act. The Parliament should also wait for Commission proposals to revise key pieces of legislation that the taxonomy is based on. In July, the Commission will propose amendments to the laws on renewable energy (RED) and land use to make the bloc “fit for a 55%” reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Later in the year, new EU forest and biodiversity strategies will also be unveiled.
William Todts said: “The list is supposed to help combat climate change, but instead labels cargo ships burning bunker fuel and public buses running on fossil gas as green. A taxonomy that greenwashes the use of fossil gas will have no credibility in the eyes of consumers, civil society and investors. Parliament should suspend its approval until it can see the full picture.”
The Taxonomy Regulation determines which financial investments can be labeled environmentally sustainable. The actual list of environmentally sustainable activities is being drawn up by the Commission and is supposed to be based on recommendations by the expert group of NGOs, financial market companies and EU agencies. It must be approved by the European Parliament and governments before becoming law.
Read more: Letter: MEPs should block the EU’s ‘green’ investments list — for now
Download full report [PDF]: Letter: MEPs should block the EU’s “green” investments list – for now
Featured image by Ales Krivec on Unsplash
Tesla’s Q2 results are in, and they are way, way down from Q2 of 2024. At the same time, Nissan seems to be in serious trouble and the first-ever all-electric Dodge muscle car is getting recalled because its dumb engine noises are the wrong kind of dumb engine noises. All this and more on today’s deeply troubled episode of Quick Charge!
We’ve also got an awesome article from Micah Toll about a hitherto unexplored genre of electric lawn equipment, a $440 million mining equipment deal, and a list of incompetent, corrupt, and stupid politicians who voted away their constituents’ futures to line their pockets.
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OpenAI is distancing itself from Robinhood‘s latest crypto push after the trading platform began offering tokenized shares of OpenAI and SpaceX to users in Europe.
“These ‘OpenAI tokens’ are not OpenAI equity,” OpenAI wrote on X. “We did not partner with Robinhood, were not involved in this, and do not endorse it.”
The company said that “any transfer of OpenAI equity requires our approval — we did not approve any transfer,” and warned users to “please be careful.”
Robinhood announced the launch Monday from Cannes, France, as part of a broader product showcase focused on tokenized equities, staking, and a new blockchain infrastructure play. The company’s stock surged above $100 to hit a new all-time high following the news.
“These tokens give retail investors indirect exposure to private markets, opening up access, and are enabled by Robinhood’s ownership stake in a special purpose vehicle,” a Robinhood spokesperson said in response to the OpenAI post.
Robinhood offered 5 euros worth of OpenAI and SpaceX tokens to eligible EU users who signed up to trade stock tokens by July 7. The assets are issued under the EU’s looser investor restrictions via Robinhood’s crypto platform.
“This is about expanding access,” said Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s SVP and GM of crypto. “The goal with tokenization is to let anyone participate in this economy.”
The episode highlights the dynamic between crypto platforms seeking to democratize access to financial products and the companies whose names and equity are being represented on-chain
U.S. users cannot access these tokens due to regulatory restrictions.
Despite the warnings, BYD continues introducing new discounts. On Wednesday, BYD’s luxury off-road brand began offering over 50% Huawei’s smart driving tech.
BYD introduces new discounts on smart driving tech
After BYD cut prices again in May, the China Automobile Manufacturers Association (CAMA) warned that the ultra-low prices are “triggering a new round of price war panic.”
Although they didn’t single out BYD, it was pretty obvious. BYD slashed prices across 22 of its vehicles by up to 34%, triggering several automakers to follow suit in China.
BYD’s cheapest EV, the Seagull, typically starts at about $10,000 (66,800 yuan). After the price cuts, the Seagull is listed at under $8,000 (55,800 yuan).
It doesn’t look like China’s EV leader plans to slow down anytime soon. Fang Cheng Bao, BYD’s luxury off-road brand, introduced new discounts on Huawei’s smart driving tech on Wednesday.
The limited-time offer cuts the price of Huawei’s Qiankun Intelligent Driving High-end Function Package to just 12,000 yuan ($1,700).
Buyers who order the smart driving tech in July will save over 50% compared to its typical price of 32,000 yuan ($4,500).
Earlier this year, Fang Chang Bao launched the Tai 3, its most affordable vehicle, starting at 139,800 yuan ($19,300). The Tai 3 is about the size of the Tesla Model Y, but costs about half as much.
The Tai 3 will spearhead a new sub-brand of electric SUVs following the more premium Bao 8 and Bao 5 hybrid SUVs.
BYD’s luxury off-road brand sold 18,903 vehicles last month, up 50% from May and 605% compared to last year. Fang Cheng Bao has now sold over 10,000 vehicles for three consecutive months.
The Chinese EV giant sold 382,585 vehicles in total in June, an increase of 12% from last year. In the first half of the year, BYD’s cumulative sales reached over 2.1 million, a YOY increase of 33%.
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