EU Court Rules Nuclear Energy is Clean Energy

Launching Dear Greenpeace back in 2023

When I launched Dear Greenpeace with my fellow youth climate activists alongside WePlanet two years ago, I had no idea just how quickly the anti-nuclear dominoes would fall across Europe.

In 2023, and what seems like a lifetime ago, Austria launched their legal action against the European Commission for the inclusion of nuclear energy in the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy. At the time they were supported by a bulwark of EU countries and environmental NGOs that opposed nuclear energy. Honestly, it looked like they might win.

But today, that whole landscape has changed.

Germany, long a symbol of anti-nuclear politics, is beginning to shift. The nuclear phase-outs or bans in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, and Italy are now history. Even Fridays for Future has quietened its opposition, and in some places, embraced nuclear power.

This moment matters.

It shows what’s possible when we stick to the science. The evidence only gets clearer by the day that nuclear energy has an extremely low environmental impact across its lifecycle, and strong regulations and safety culture ensure that it remains one of the safest forms of energy available to humanity.

The European Court of Justice has now fully dismissed Austria’s lawsuit. That ruling doesn’t just uphold nuclear energy’s place in EU green finance rules. It also signals a near-certain defeat for the ongoing Greenpeace case – the very lawsuit that inspired me to launch Dear Greenpeace in the first place.

But instead of learning from this, Greenpeace is doubling down. Martin Kaiser, Executive Director of Greenpeace Germany, called the court decision “a dark day for the climate”.

Let that sink in. The highest court in the EU just reaffirmed that nuclear energy meets the scientific and environmental standards to be included in sustainable finance, and Greenpeace still refuses to budge.

Meanwhile, the climate crisis gets worse. Global emissions are not falling fast enough. Billions of people still lack access to clean, reliable electricity. And we are forced to spend time defending proven solutions instead of scaling them.

Announcing our inclusion in the case between Greenpeace and the EU Commission

It’s now up to the court whether we will get our time in court to outline the evidence in support of nuclear energy and the important role it can play in the global clean energy transition. Whether in court, on the streets, or in the halls of parliaments across the globe, we will be there to defend the science and ensure that nuclear power can spread the advantages of the modern world across the planet in a sustainable, reliable and dignified way.

Austria stands increasingly isolated among a handful of countries that still cling to their opposition to nuclear energy. Their defeat in this vital high stakes topic is a success not just for the nuclear movement, but for the global transition as a whole.

We have made real progress. Together, we’ve helped defend nuclear power in the EU, overturned outdated policies at the World Bank, and secured more technology-neutral language at the UN. These wins are not abstract. They open the door to real investment, real projects, and real emissions cuts.

But the work is not done.

We still need to overturn national nuclear bans, unlock more funding, and push democratic countries to support clean energy development abroad: especially where it is most needed to compete with Russia’s growing influence.

The fight will not be done until every single country in the world can boast a clean, reliable energy grid, ready to maintain a modern dignified standard of living, for everyone, everywhere.

This is a great success for the movement and it would not have been possible without the financial support, time and energy given by people like you.

In Solidarity, Ia Aanstoot