EU ministers nod to support for nuclear energy ahead of UN climate summit

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EU ministers have nodded to support for nuclear energy for the first time as part of the bloc’s mandate for the UN climate summit, in a sign of atomic power’s rising prominence as an energy source.

Deep divisions between France and Germany held up the discussions over the EU’s negotiating stance for the COP29 gathering, but EU countries ultimately agreed that they should call to accelerate “low-emissions technologies” in line with a deal made at the previous COP28 summit that included nuclear power.

The push for more recognition of nuclear energy symbolises a shift in attitudes towards the power source in Europe, which were hardened against it following Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.

A group of mostly eastern European countries and France will publish a paper on Tuesday calling for Brussels to recognise the “pivotal role” of nuclear energy and ensure it is “duly integrated” in new proposals for EU energy regulation.

On the sidelines of the meeting on Monday, the Dutch and French governments also signed an agreement to increase co-operation on nuclear energy and push for more “institutional support” for nuclear power.

But several EU countries, including Germany, Austria and Denmark, fear that too much focus on nuclear could draw funds away from renewable energy as a cheaper, cleaner and faster way to cut the greenhouse gas emissions behind climate change.

“We see that nuclear has been kept alive by enormous amounts of public money without having an economically viable business model, while at the same time we see renewables costs decrease enormously,” said Leonore Gewessler, Austria’s climate minister. “Let’s put money where the most cost-efficient solution is — and that‘s renewables.”

The text agreed late on Monday sets out the EU’s negotiating mandate for the UN climate summit to be hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan, next month and is intended to establish the EU as one of the most ambitious negotiating parties.

Officials involved in the discussions said the nuclear debate had distracted from wider questions about the EU’s own energy mix and its contributions to international climate finance.

Linda Kachler, executive director of the Brussels-based think-tank Strategic Perspectives, said it was an “ideological debate on who is in favour of what technology instead of the debate on how fast the EU can get rid of fossil fuels, especially from Russia”.

A European official involved in the negotiations said nuclear positions had become “religious” and that the “elephant in the room” was the lack of discussion over how much the EU would contribute in funding to poorer countries most affected by climate change.

A key focus of the summit — dubbed by its organisers as the “finance COP” — is a new target for providing climate finance for the most vulnerable countries.

Under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, almost 200 countries must agree a new figure for climate finance by next year, meaning that COP29 is the last chance to settle on a goal.

Positions on the shape and quantum of a potential target are still far apart, with developing countries calling for an amount in the region of $1tn-$1.3tn.

Developed countries such as those in the EU, which is the biggest donor of climate finance, have been cautious about committing more public funds without accompanying structures to increase private funding.

They have also pushed for the base of donor countries to be broadened to nations such as China, Singapore and Saudi Arabia, which are considered under UN criteria set in 1992 as “developing” countries but are now industrially and financially powerful.

Eamon Ryan, Ireland’s climate minister, said he expected Baku to be the “most difficult [COP] negotiation since Paris . . . because it is about the money.”

Several EU ministers including Ryan and French climate minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said there needed to be more focus on creating structures such as a capital markets union in Africa that would help raise money for renewable energy projects.

The EU’s climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said he had held “frequent fruitful discussions . . . on how to address financing” at a preliminary meeting in Baku last week.

“The way we will approach this negotiation in terms of financing is threefold,” he said. “Making sure there is more money available, and that holds good for both the public and private. Secondly making sure we don’t spread ourselves too thin but it lands with those most in need, and third lets make sure that everyone with the ability to pay actually rises to the occasion.”

Kai Mykkänen, Finland’s climate minister, said: “We can’t be in a situation forever where countries like Singapore . . . are still treated as developing countries even if their GDP per capita might be higher than that of many EU countries.”