Viewpoint: EU must include nuclear power in its list of sustainable sources
Nuclear power is the single biggest source of low-carbon electricity in Europe today and is recognised in many of the scenarios assessed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Energy Agency and other organisations as having a critical role to play in responding to the climate emergency.
It is therefore vital that nuclear is included in the EU's new classification system for environmentally sustainable activities, which is being negotiated in Brussels. The "taxonomy" is supposed to provide clear definitions to fund managers and investors about which products are environmentally sustainable and which are not. For this initiative to serve its purpose of increasing the financial capital flowing to sustainable activities, financiers must have confidence that the definition of a sustainable activity is developed with rigour, robustness and in an objective way.
But progress is being blocked by several countries, including Germany, which claim nuclear should be excluded because of their concerns about nuclear waste. This is in spite of clear evidence that nuclear waste does not and will not cause harm to sustainability objectives. Nuclear energy displaces fossil fuel use, with significant air pollution and climate benefits. Without nuclear, there will be 500 million tonnes of extra CO2 emissions every year in Europe, which is more than the emissions of the UK or France alone. Without nuclear, our action on climate will be more difficult, more expensive, and more likely to fail. The real harm done will be to Europe's ambition to achieve net zero by 2050.
James E Hansen Climate scientist and former director of Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Hans Blix Former director-general, International Atomic Energy Agency (1981-1997), and former Swedish foreign minister
Martin Rees House of Lords, London SW1, UK
Bryony Worthington House of Lords, London SW1, UK
John Belgrove Senior partner, Aon
Kirsty Gogan Energy for Humanity
François-Marie Bréon Climate scientist and lead author for the IPCC's fifth assessment report
Ken Caldeira Climate scientist, Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford University, CA, US
Daniel Mosley House of Lords, London SW1, UK
John Krebs Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, UK
Tim Stone Former board member of the European Investment Bank (2003-2018)
Jeffrey S Merrifield Former commissioner, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (1998-2007)
Brice LaLonde Former French environment minister and climate ambassador
José Gabriel González Singer/songwriter
Eric Ingersoll Energy Options Network, US
Michael Liebreich Liebreich Associates, UK
Jacopo Buongiorno Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US
Joseph Lassiter Harvard Business School (retired), US
Robert Stone Filmmaker and director
Daniel Aegerter Chair, Armada Investment Group, Switzerland
Nick Spencer Gordian Advice, UK
Janne Gustafsson Ilmarinen Pension Mutual Insurance Company, Finland
Gilles Babinet Representative of France in the EU Digital Champions group
Atte Harjanne Member of the Parliament of Finland
Mark Yelland Greens for Nuclear, UK
Staffan Qvist Author, "A Bright Future"”
Simon Friederich Groningen university and co-founder of German Ecomodernists
Amardeo Sarma Co-founder German Ecomodernists
Tea Tormanen Chair of Finnish Ecomodernists
Take Aanstoot Founder and Chair, Swedish Ecomodernist Society
Adam Blazowski FOTA4Climate, Poland
Pavel Gajda Institute of Sustainable Energy, Poland
Marc Deffrennes weCARE
Valerie Faudon Nuclear 4 Climate
Myrto Tripathi Voix du Nucléaire, France
Eric Maucort Sauvons le Climat, France
Paul Bossens 100TWh, Belgium
Iida Ruishalme Mothers for Nuclear
Rauli Partanen Think Atom, Finland
Barbro Walker Professor of childhood education, University of Applied Sciences, Berlin, Germany
Jenifer Baxter Institution of Mechanical Engineers, UK
Simon Taylor Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, UK
Anton van der Merwe Professor of molecular immunology, University of Oxford, UK
T Ben Britton Imperial College London, UK
Armond Cohen Clean Air Task Force, US
Josh Freed Third Way, US
Todd Moss Energy for Growth
Ted Nordhaus Breakthrough Institute, US
Tracey Durning Energy Options Network, US
Suzanne Hobbs Baker Fastest Path to Zero Initiative, University of Michigan, US
Jessica Lovering Carnegie Mellon University, US
Eric Meyer Generation Atomic (US)
Ben Heard Bright New World, (Australia)
