IAEA chief pushes development banks to focus on nuclear energy projects

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi has asked global development banks and their government shareholders to fund new nuclear energy projects, stating that failing to do so could delay the energy transition, the Financial Times (FT) reported on March 4.

The UN nuclear watchdog chief told the FT in an interview that lack of funding for emissions-free nuclear energy by multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank was “out of step” with the wishes of most of their shareholders, adding that there has been a “sea-change” in the outlook on nuclear power due to the climate crisis and the war in Ukraine.

“All these development banks or international finance institutions are out of date, out of step with what is happening,” Grossi told the newspaper. “The outlook of the banks seems to be a post-Chernobyl sort of mantra, which does not correspond any more to the policy indication from countries and the ideas and projects we are seeing.”

World leaders will attend a “first-of-its-kind” nuclear energy summit in Brussels towards the end of March where they are expected to discuss how to overcome opposition from a small number of nations such as Germany to using development banks to fund nuclear projects, Grossi told the FT.

The IAEA estimates annual nuclear investment will need to more than double to $100bn by 2030, up from almost $50m in 2022, to meet the Paris Agreement target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the report added.

Reuters