EU court says fossil-fueled planes count as green investment

The EU's General Court partly sided with environmental groups Dryade, Fossielvrij NL and Protect Our Winters Austria, ruling the European Commission left a methane emissions threshold undefined in rules for gas-fueled ships even while insisting compliance would be checked against limits written elsewhere. The court called that approach contradictory and annulled the Commission's refusal to review that specific gap.

The groups' broader challenge, to rules letting certain fossil-fueled aircraft and ships qualify as environmentally sustainable investments, failed: the court found their objections didn't clear the bar for challenging the Commission's scientific judgment calls. The underlying investment classifications remain in place for both aircraft and ships.

Campaigners warned the ruling leaves room for new fleets, including more than 1,700 existing LNG-powered ships and nearly 1,200 more on order, to keep burning fossil fuels for decades while still counting toward the EU's green transition goals. The Commission said it would review the judgment and consider an appeal.

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