Nuclear Power in the COP29 Spotlight as Countries and Companies Eye Climate Solutions

Nuclear power is in the spotlight at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Azerbaijan, where both countries and industries presented plans to deploy the carbon-free energy technology, building on the historic consensus to accelerate its use that emerged from last year's climate summit.

Reaching global decarbonization targets by 2050 will require a significant expansion of nuclear power. This was acknowledged at the first Nuclear Energy Summit in March 2024 as well as in the Global Stocktake at COP28 and the pledge by more than 20 countries to seek to triple nuclear capacity. But to get there, capital is urgently needed, said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. "Finance institutions need to evolve with the changing demands of the market-and there's a clear demand for and growing interest in nuclear," Mr Grossi said at a high-level event co-hosted by the COP29 Presidency and the IAEA that focused on financing low-carbon energy projects including nuclear power.

The high-level event featured speakers including Mr Grossi and Parviz Shabazov, Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan; Herbert Krapa, Deputy Minister of Energy of Ghana; Fatih Birol, IEA Executive Secretary; Francesco La Camera, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA); Tatiana Molcean, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE); Mark Bowman, Vice President for Policy and Partnerships, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD); Sama Bilbao y Leon, Director General of the World Nuclear Association; and Seth Agbeve, Director of Renewable Energy at the Ministry of Energy of Ghana.

The event followed the signing of a memorandum of understanding by the IAEA and Azerbaijan in which the Agency agreed to provide energy planning capacity building services, including a joint analysis under the Atoms4NetZero initiative on the potential role of nuclear energy in Azerbaijan's clean energy transition.

Noting the importance of nuclear energy for Azerbaijan's future, Azerbaijan Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov said at the event that "Azerbaijan sees opportunities for nuclear energy to be part of its energy mix in the future, as clean energy."

Mr. Grossi signed cooperation agreements with several organizations at COP29. The company LinkedIn agreed to support capacity building in the nuclear sector with training, data insights and networking. The IAEA and IRENA agreed to cooperate on joint missions, training, data sharing and case studies to support energy planning and clean energy goals. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the IAEA agreed to cooperate on nuclear safety, decommissioning, environmental remediation and nuclear energy.