The first-ever summit by the IAEA to promote nuclear as "clean and reliable energy" follows on from last year's COP28 UN climate negotiations, at which 22 world leaders backed a call to triple the world's nuclear energy capacity by 2050.World leaders pose in front of the Atomium during the IAEA Nuclear Energy Summit in Brussels, Belgium, March 21, 2024. / Photo: Reuters
The approach is anathema to a number of other European countries –– including Germany and Spain –– and to many environmentalists, who see the drive for nuclear as a harmful distraction from the need to invest massively, and immediately, in renewables. Now, said Grossi, the focus was on"what we still need to do" –– including crucially on the question of financing.
"I see around the world, nuclear is making a comeback. A very strong comeback," International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol told reporters at the gathering. In the European Union, France has been spearheading a drive to establish nuclear as a key source of carbon-free energy in the bloc, which has included it in its roadmap to reaching its 2040 climate goals.