As world leaders convene at this year’s UN Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or COP28, the IAEA will host and participate in around 50 events from 30 November to 12 December 2023, highlighting the solutions nuclear science and technology can provide in climate change mitigation, adaptation, and monitoring.
The IAEA’s Atoms4Climate pavilion in the Blue Zone will feature events focussing on on four areas: energy, food, oceans and water. Low carbon nuclear energy can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while nuclear techniques can be used to enhance global food security, monitor ocean health, and improve access to clean water — all of which are impacted by climate change.
IAEA Director General, Rafael Mariano Grossi, will announce the IAEA Statement on Nuclear Power supported by dozens of countries, in a flagship event on Friday 1 December that will highlight the role of nuclear power as part of the energy mix. The event will be livestreamed.
Speaking at an IAEA Board of Governors meeting ahead of COP28, Mr Grossi said: “For the first time in the history of COP, nuclear countries will be able to say yes, we are here, yes, nuclear energy is part of the solution for this global climate crisis that we have.”
Mr Grossi will also join French President Emmanuel Macron and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Saturday 2 December, to announce the first-ever nuclear energy summit to be held in Brussels next year. The event will be livestreamed. Read more.
See the IAEA at COP28 page for the complete list of IAEA and partner events.
Net Zero
The latest Emissions Gap Report from the United Nations Environment Programme indicates the world needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 28 per cent to limit the increase in global average temperatures to well below 2 degrees Celsius, and by 42 per cent to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius — both goals set in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. COP28 will mark the first “global stocktake” under the agreement, a comprehensive assessment of the progress that countries have made on reaching their goals to cut emissions.
There is consensus within the climate community that energy sector carbon emissions will have to be reduced to net zero by around the middle of the century to meet these goals. Nuclear power, which accounts for about 10 per cent of global electricity generation and provides about one quarter of the world’s low carbon electricity, has a key role to play in a net zero future.
What is net zero? What is the role of nuclear power and innovations?
Nuclear power offers affordability, resilience and security of energy supply and can be used alongside renewables to achieve net zero. The IAEA’s Atoms4NetZero initiative provides decision makers with comprehensive, data-driven energy scenario modelling that includes the full potential of nuclear power in contributing to net zero emissions, helping to fill a gap in studies used by governments and financial institutions in support of new nuclear power projects.
On 5 December, high level international representatives will meet at the Atoms4Climate Pavilion for an event entitled Is Nuclear Deployment Too Slow for Net Zero? The panel will relate their experiences, with the aim of dispelling the common myth that nuclear energy is too slow to help meet decarbonization targets.
On 10 December, the Atoms4Climate Pavilion will host a forum on the theme of Building Clean and Resilient Energy Systems.
