Nuclear industry organisations from around the world have today published a report highlighting the contributions made by nuclear towards achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. The report notes nuclear contributes to each of the 17 goals.

Bruce Power has today launched Bruce Power Net Zero Inc to leverage the net-zero generation provided by Bruce's nuclear power plants to enable the company to achieve its own ambition to be net-zero by 2027 and support Ontario and Canada in reaching net-zero by 2050. The new entity is led by Bruce Power Chief Development Officer and EVP Operational Services James Scongack.

The UK government today published its Net Zero Strategy, setting out how the country will deliver on its commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. New nuclear plays a significant part of this strategy, which includes investment of GBP120 million (USD166 million) towards the development of nuclear projects through the Future Nuclear Enabling Fund.

Russia has set a target of 2060 to reach net-zero carbon dioxide emissions, President Vladimir Putin has told Russian Energy Week 2021. Counting nuclear exports as contributing towards global decarbonisation and saying Germany's phase out "does not make any sense", he said that he thinks energy system decisions should be made by experts.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has made the full case for nuclear to be deployed rapidly to enable the phase out of coal in a new Nuclear Energy for a Net Zero World brochure. The organisation is taking it to next month's COP26 climate change meeting to argue for evidence-based policy and "ramped up" investment in nuclear.

Germany's phase-out of nuclear energy will only lead to the country missing its 2030 carbon emissions target, 25 leading foreign and German environmentalists, journalists and academics have written in an open letter to the German public. They call on German politicians to be "brave enough" to change legislation to at least postpone the shutdown of the country's reactors.

Demands for new nuclear build in Bulgaria have intensified on the high price of coal-fired electricity and the need to replace the power plants that produce it. Bogomil Manchev, chairman of the Bulgarian Atomic Forum, used a newspaper interview to call on the government to make a plan to build at Belene as well as Kozloduy.

The global nuclear industry and governments must work together to make it easier for those countries wishing to launch nuclear energy programmes in order to decarbonise their energy system, writes Milton Caplan, president of MZConsulting Inc and chair of the World Nuclear Association Economics Working Group.

The transition to a clean energy system is still progressing too slowly for the world to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, the International Energy Agency says in the latest edition of its World Energy Outlook, published today. However, it says a new energy economy is emerging around the world as solar, wind, electric vehicles and other low-carbon technologies flourish. The report provides analysis of how the world can still move towards a pathway that would have a good chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

Nuclear energy must be included in the framework of the European taxonomy before the end of this year, energy and economy ministers from ten EU member states said in a joint article published in several European newspapers yesterday. The ministers said nuclear energy is "an affordable, stable and independent energy resource". The Czech Ministry of Energy described the nations as a 'Nuclear Alliance'.

The UK government has announced plans to decarbonise the country's power system by 2035, instead of the previous target of 2050. The plan focuses on building a secure, home-grown energy sector - including nuclear energy - that reduces reliance on fossil fuels and exposure to volatile global wholesale energy prices.

Global energy consumption and energy-related carbon dioxide emissions are set to increase in the period to 2050 as a result of population and economic growth if current policy and technology trends continue, according to the US Energy Information Administration's International Energy Outlook 2021 which has been published this week. Although worldwide nuclear generation increases by 15% throughout the projection period, nuclear generation in OECD regions decreases by almost one-third.