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The role of scientific evidence in the European Commission’s decision to the inclusion of natural gas and nuclear energy in the Taxonomy Regulation : a question of bias?

Zentner, Maik (2022) The role of scientific evidence in the European Commission’s decision to the inclusion of natural gas and nuclear energy in the Taxonomy Regulation : a question of bias?

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Abstract:The European Union itself as a political construct is also an entity that accumulates enormous amounts of interests of a vast variety of stakeholders. Taking the example of the Taxonomy regulation, this thesis aimed to uncover the political dynamics of a selection of stakeholders, namely the Member States and the NGO who aggregate their interest to the European Commission, the decision-maker behind the controversial decision to label nuclear and gas energy as sustainable and green energy sources. The role of evidence in this process is crucially important as the stakeholders and the Commission each use evidence in favor for to justify their stance in their topic. Even though the Commission strives to implement the principle of evidence-based policymaking, it has gotten evident that “evidence” itself is not perfect to use it as a parameter for policy decisions. Evidence can be formed to fit a decision by cherry-picking e.g., to support the narrative of sustainable nuclear and natural gas power. The Commission uses expert group reports to justify this decision. Hereby does it align more with the interests of Germany and France, the most powerful member states, than with NGOs, civil society representatives.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:70 social sciences in general, 89 political science
Programme:Management Society and Technology BSc (56654)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/91921
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