The European Union stands at a critical moment. Recent international conflict has highlighted the global nature of energy markets and shown the vulnerability of nation states to volatile fossil fuel prices. Last year’s catastrophic flooding [1] in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg has underlined that Europe is not immune to the effects of global climate change. Record high temperatures and forest fires in temperate climates such as the Pacific Northwest [2] and Siberia [3] remind us that the energy decisions we make affect the entire world. Dangerous climate destabilization is happening now, in our own lifetimes, and humankind is teetering on the brink of disaster. The EU must show strong and decisive leadership in taking action on climate change. It must therefore accept the advice of its own scientific experts and include nuclear power in the Sustainable Finance Taxonomy (Regulation (EU) 2020/852).
The recent Technical Assessment by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre recommends the inclusion of nuclear power in the taxonomy. It stated that it “did not reveal any science-based evidence that nuclear energy does more harm to human health or to the environment than other electricity production technologies already included in the Taxonomy,” such as hydropower and renewables. [4]
Two of the EU’s other expert groups have now reached the same conclusion. The Group of Experts on radiation protection and waste management under Article 31 of the Euratom Treaty determined that “the conclusions of the JRC report are based on well-established results of scientific research”. [5] The Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks reached broadly similar conclusions in its recent report. [6]
The EU must base its policies on the consensus of the scientific evidence. This shows that nuclear power is one of the most effective ways to fight climate change. Authorities such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) [7] and the International Energy Agency [8] have found that nuclear power is low-carbon, affordable, and required to limit warming below 2°C.
Nuclear power already provides almost half of Europe's low-carbon energy, sustaining over a million jobs [9]. Modelling by the IPCC and others show nuclear's role must expand significantly if Europe is to decarbonize quickly and cost-effectively.
In an age of misinformation, the EU has a pressing moral duty to affirm the importance of scientific research. Nearly 100 MEPs already recognise this and have called on the Commission to abide by the conclusions of the scientific report they themselves commissioned. [10]
If nuclear energy is excluded from the taxonomy, it will certainly result in a slowed transition to a cleaner future. Your choice will affect the lives of millions worldwide for decades to come.
Respectfully,
[your name will go here]
[your email address will go here] [your location will go here]
Sources:
1. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/floods-hit-western-europe-s...
2. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/event-tracker/astounding-heat-obli...
3. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/148525/a-scorcher-in-siberia-an...
4. Technical assessment of nuclear energy with respect to the ‘do no significant harm’ criteria of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 (‘Taxonomy Regulation’)
5. https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/default/files/opinion_of_article_31_go...
6. https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/business_economy_euro/bank...
7. Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Jacob, D., Bindi, M., Brown, S., Camilloni, I., Diedhiou, A., Djalante, R., Ebi, K., Engelbrecht, F., Guiot, J. and Hijioka, Y., 2018. Impacts of 1.5 C global warming on natural and human systems. Global warming of 1.5 C. An IPCC Special Report
8. Sadamori, K., 2020. Nuclear Power in a Clean Energy System. In Annales des Mines-Responsabilité et environnement (No. 1, pp. 122-126). FFE.
9. https://www.foratom.org/press-release/investing-in-low-carbon-nuclear-ge...
10. https://www.eureporter.co/energy/nuclear-energy/2021/07/08/meps-call-on-...
