Global energy developments
- The UNFCCC global stocktake (COP28, 2023) was the first UNFCCC process to formally endorse nuclear energy as a valid option for emissions reduction. It urged countries to accelerate zero- and low-emissions technologies, including renewables, nuclear, CCUS, and low-carbon hydrogen production.
- The Declaration to Triple Nuclear Capacity, launched at COP28, in 2023 has now been signed by 33 countries, who pledge support to tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050 (compared with 2020 capacity) and mobilize investment and encourage financial institutions to support nuclear.
- At the G7 meeting in Turin in 2024, all G7 nations except Germany expressed support for nuclear in those countries that chose to use it. They recognized nuclear as a clean, reliable baseload source that enhances energy security and grid stability.
- The World Bank announced in June 2025 that it would support nuclear projects. It will back operating lifetime extensions and small modular reactors (SMRs) in developing nations.
- In September 2024, 14 global financial organizations (including Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley) backed nuclear as part of the low-carbon transition.
- In March 2025, 14 major corporations (including Amazon, Dow, Google, Meta) pledged support for tripling nuclear capacity by 2050.
- Many countries have set capacity targets, or have plans for deployment of reactors, that would contribute to achieving the main Declaration to Triple Nuclear Capacity objective.
3.1 Recent international developments
3.1.1 UNFCCC global stocktake
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) first global stocktake in 2023 endorsed nuclear energy as a valid option for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The global stocktake process was instigated through the Paris Agreement at COP21 in France. This committed parties that were signatories to the Paris Agreement to review every five years progress towards the collective goal of limiting climate change to 1.5 °C.
At COP28, in 2023, in the Outcome of the first global stocktake document28, governments concluded that insufficient progress towards meeting the 1.5 °C goal had been made, recognized the need to make “deep, rapid and sustained” reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and called on parties to contribute to global efforts “in a nationally determined manner” through measures including:
Accelerating zero- and low-emission technologies, including, inter alia, renewables, nuclear, abatement and removal technologies such as carbon capture and utilization and storage, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors, and low-carbon hydrogen production.
This was the first time that nuclear energy had been endorsed as a mitigation option within the COP process, reflecting the more positive position of many countries towards nuclear energy.
3.1.2 Support for nuclear energy in the G7
At its 2024 Ministerial Meeting on Climate, Energy and Environment, in Turin, Italy, the Group of Seven (G7) nationsb committed to support the use of nuclear energy in those countries that opt to use it.
The countries that opt to use nuclear energy or support its use (at the time all G7 nations except Germany) recognized its potential as a clean energy source that can reduce dependence on fossil fuels to address the climate crisis and improve global energy security; they also recognized nuclear as a “source of baseload power, providing grid stability and flexibility, and optimising use of grid capacity.”
3.1.3 Declaration to Triple Nuclear Capacity
At COP28 in Dubai, 25 countries signed the Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy. The declaration, authored and agreed by the countries involved, recognized the key role of nuclear energy in achieving global net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. Each signatory government committed to “work together to advance a global aspirational goal of tripling nuclear energy capacity from 2020 by 2050, recognizing the different domestic circumstances of each Participant.”
When the declaration was launched on 2 December 2023 the following countries signed the declaration: Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ghana, Hungary, Jamaica, Japan, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Sweden, Ukraine, the UAE, the UK and the USA. Later that week Armenia and Croatia also signed. Six more countries joined the declaration at COP29 in Azerbaijan: El Salvador, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Nigeria and Turkey, and Rwanda and Senegal joined at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, bringing the total number of signatories to 33.
The declaration included pledges to mobilize investments, including innovative financing, to encourage international financial institutions to support nuclear energy, as well as to promote resilient supply chains for nuclear technologies. The declaration also included pledges to support the development of advanced reactors, extend the operating lifetime of existing plants where feasible and welcome complementary commitments from the private sector, NGOs, development banks and the finance sector.
3.1.4 World Bank support for nuclear projects
In June 2025, at a board meeting of the World Bank Group, it was decided that the bank would be open to “supporting efforts to extend the life of existing reactors and accelerate the potential of small modular reactors in developing countries.”29 The World Bank last financed a nuclear project in 1959.
The Declaration to Triple Nuclear Capacity (see above) had called for the World Bank’s shareholders to include nuclear in their organization’s energy lending policies.
The World Bank Group is a multilateral lending organization whose mission "is to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity on a liveable planet.” The bank’s largest shareholder is the USA at 17%. In 2024 the World Bank Group facilitated $117.5 billion "in loans, grants, equity investments and guarantees to partner countries and private businesses."
3.1.5 Financial organizations back global goal to triple nuclear capacity
In September 2024, during New York Climate Week, 14 financial institutions stated their recognition that global civil nuclear energy projects have an important role to play in the transition to a low-carbon economy. They further expressed support for long-term objectives of growing nuclear power generation and expanding the broader nuclear industry to support the energy transition. The institutions include: Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Ares Management, Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Brookfield, Citi, Credit Agricole CIB, Goldman Sachs, Guggenheim Securities, Morgan Stanley, Rothschild & Co, Segra Capital Management, and Société Générale.
3.1.6 Major large energy users support tripling of nuclear capacity
In March 2025, on the sidelines of CERAWeek 2025 in Houston, 14 companies, including Amazon, Dow, Google and Meta,c signed the Large Energy Users Pledge,30 supporting a goal of at least a tripling of global nuclear capacity by 2050.
The pledge noted that large energy users often depend on the availability of abundant energy and that “a resilient strategy for fostering economic growth should include an increase in the share of electricity provided by nuclear energy.”
b The G7 nations are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States
c The full list of inaugrial supporters was Allseas, Amazon, Bureau Veritas, Carbon3Energy, Clean Energy Buyers Association, Core Power, Dow, FEPC, Fly Green Alliance, Google, Lloyd’s Reister, Meta, Oxy and OSGE. Siemens Energy issued a statement of support.