IAE, IAEA warn that climate challenge would be much harder without nuclear

October 12, 2020, 12:01PMANS Nuclear Cafe

Birol

Grossi

“Given the scale and urgency of the climate challenge, we do not have the luxury of excluding nuclear from the tools at our disposal,” the leaders of the International Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency wrote in an op-ed article posted on the CNN website last Friday.

Fatih Birol, executive director of the IAE, and Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the IAEA, said that the COVID-19 crisis not only delivered an unprecedented shock to the world economy, it also underscored the scale of the climate challenge the world faces: Even in the current deep recession, global carbon emissions remain unsustainable.

They said it: “If the world is to meet energy security and climate goals, clean energy must be at the core of post–COVID-19 economic recovery efforts,” the op-ed stated. “Strong growth in wind and solar energy and in the use of electric cars gives us grounds for hope, as does the promise of emerging technologies like hydrogen and carbon capture. But the scale of the challenge means we cannot afford to exclude any available technologies, including nuclear power—the world's second-largest source of low-carbon electricity after hydropower.”


Related Articles

IAEA convoy hit by Russian drone

December 11, 2024, 12:00PMNuclear News

A drone targeted and damaged an official vehicle of the International Atomic Energy Agency on December 10 as it traveled toward the front line in eastern Ukraine during a rotation of IAEA...

Chris Wright is Trump’s DOE pick

November 19, 2024, 12:01PMNuclear News

Oil industry executive Chris Wright has been selected by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as the next secretary of energy. Wright is also to serve on Trump’s new Council of National...