A nation that is off-track for hitting its climate emissions targets should be supportive of all global efforts to reduce the impact of global warming, nuclear energy advocacy group Nuclear for Australia says, as COP 31 puts a spotlight on decarbonisation efforts.
As Australia’s Chris Bowen begins his role as President of the COP31 Negotiations, Nuclear for Australia called for him to show leadership in delivering better global outcomes.
“The Albanese Government’s refusal to acknowledge the positive role nuclear is playing in being an affordable, reliable, clean energy solution makes us look out of touch on the world stage.
“YouGov polling found 58 per cent of Australians support Australia signing up to the global pledge to support the tripling of nuclear energy by 2050, to expand the technologies’ role in delivering clean, secure and affordable energy.”
The new polling comes as an open letter to Minister Bowen coordinated by Nuclear for Australia and WePlanet Australia, calls for Australia to commit to supporting proposals that help countries expand nuclear power, and endorsing the declaration’s collective goal of tripling global nuclear power capacity by 2050.
Signatories include Father of Climate Science and expert on global warming, Dr James Hansen, whose testimony to the US Senate in 1988 sounded the alarm on global warming and the greenhouse effect.
“39 countries have already signed up to increase worldwide nuclear capacity, as have 16 major financial institutions and cross-sector group of large energy users including Amazon and Meta,” said Mr Shackel.
“Australia holds the world’s largest uranium reserves providing the key ingredient to clean nuclear power, which means we can play a significant role in supporting global decarbonisation.
“Cooperation is critical to achieving the meaningful change we need, and Minister Bowen cannot let his own ideology cloud rational decision making and negotiations at COP 31.
“Regardless of whether we have a domestic nuclear industry, Australia should be next to sign up to the global pledge to show our support for worldwide net-zero carbon goals because the emissions reduction the world needs cannot be achieved without nuclear power and Australia’s uranium,” said Mr Shackel.
Mr Shackel said that historic heavy fossil fuel users like the US, China and India are turning to nuclear energy to fuel their industrial futures.
“Minister Bowen touts our clean energy credentials, but Australia is one of the top global fossil fuel exporters. We are fuelling this crisis when we could instead be fuelling its solution,” Mr Shackel said.
Nuclear for Australia said that failures to meet climate targets at home and around the world demonstrates a change in approach is needed, to ensure that actions out of COP31 match the commitments made.
“To see real change across the world we need an all-in approach – low emissions, technology neutral – to allow countries, industries and companies to find solutions that work for them,” Mr Shackel said.
“The more options we have on the table, the faster we can accelerate the adoption of clean energy solutions around the globe and lessen the impact of climate change.”
---ENDS---
Contact details:
Nuclear for Australia [email protected] or +61 432 970 548
WePlanet: Tyrone D’Lisle [email protected] or +61 433 631 693
