UNECE: No Climate Goals Will Be Met Without Nuclear Power

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) last report is unmistakable: “International climate objectives will not be met if nuclear power is excluded“.

The new technology brief from UNECE highlights the potential of nuclear power as part of a broader portfolio alongside deploying other sustainable low- or zero-carbon technologies to decarbonise the global energy system and energy-intensive industries.

“For those countries who choose to implement this technology, nuclear power is an important source of low-carbon electricity and heat that can contribute to attaining carbon neutrality and hence help to mitigate climate change and attain the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” 

Olga Algayerova,UNECE Executive Secretary.

Nuclear power is a low-carbon energy source that has avoided about 74Gt of CO2 emissions over the past 50 years, nearly two years’ worth of total global energy-related emissions. Only hydropower has played a greater role in avoiding emissions over this period.

Nuclear power currently provides 20% of electricity generated in the UNECE region and 43% of low-carbon generation. Time is running out to rapidly transform the global energy system as fossil fuels still account for over half of electricity generation in the UNECE region.

Nuclear power has the potential to increase its integration with other low-carbon energy sources in a future decarbonised energy mix.

Read the UNECE Press Release and the full UNECE Technology Brief here.

Nuclear for Climate is a grassroots initiative gathering over 150 associations with the goal of educating policymakers and the public about the necessity of including nuclear energy among the carbon-free solutions to climate change.

The mission is to accelerate the ability of the world to achieve Net Zero by 2050, by driving collaboration between nuclear and renewable technology.

Visit Nuclear for Climate page and download its last COP26 Position Paper “Net zero needs nuclear”.