The European Union’s proposed €750 billion fund to help the bloc recover from the coronavirus crisis will have green strings attached, with 25% of all funding set aside for climate action, the European Commission has said...

Spending will also be guided by a sustainable finance taxonomy, which aims to channel private investments into technologies that contribute to at least one of six pre-defined environmental objectives, such as climate change mitigation.

And a “do no harm” test embedded in the taxonomy will in principle exclude fossil fuels and nuclear power, which are seen to be undermining other environmental objectives such as pollution prevention and control...

Environmentalists expressed mixed feelings about the recovery plan, with reactions ranging from enthusiasm to ... scepticism...

Climate think-tank E3G was also broadly positive although it ... warned ... that the 25% climate quota in the EU budget “is too low given the scale of the challenge”...

Even though the plan includes ... green programmes.., it does not end existing support for gas, oil, coal, and industrial farming, Greenpeace said...