This is one of the biggest challenges of this COP. Twenty countries, including the United States, France and the United Arab Emirates, today called for global nuclear power capacity to be tripled by 2050 compared to 2020 to reduce dependence on coal and gas. The joint announcement was made in Dubai by John Kerry, the US climate envoy, along with several world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo. Follow our live stream.
Japan will stop building coal-fired power plants without carbon capture. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has vowed to stop building new coal-fired power plants without incorporating carbon capture or storage technology. The country, which relies heavily on imports of coal and other fossil fuels, aims to become carbon neutral by 2050. But according to some experts, such as Leo Roberts, researcher at climate think tank E3G, this change is a “back door” to increase the lifespan of existing “fossil fuel infrastructure.”
The exclusion of nuclear power is “obsolete,” says the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Director General of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, calls for the release of international public funds for nuclear energy.