IAEA to play key role at COP27

10 November 2022


From 7 to 18 November 2022 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Atoms4Climate pavilion at the 2022 UN Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – COP27 – in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, will host a full programme of IAEA and partner events to showcase nuclear science and technology solutions for climate change mitigation, adaptation and monitoring. More than 35,000 people are expected to attend COP27, including more than 100 heads of state.

“Nuclear energy as a clean energy source has a very important role to play to help us get to net zero faster,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi ahead of the conference. Speaking at the first full day of events at the Atoms4Climate stage at COP27, Grossi said that the fact there was a pavilion at COP27 for nuclear was "a first and a reflection of how things are changing".

“Nuclear is not a magic bullet,” Grossi told a panel led by Bloomberg’s William Kennedy. “But without it, everything else will be extremely complicated.” He noted that nuclear reactors currently generate about a tenth of the world’s power, but in many Western countries old reactors are being shut down without new models coming on line. So the immediate task is to keep more old reactors operating as long as it is safe to do so. “The unsung hero in the fight against global warming is long-term operation,” he said, adding that countries also need to boost investments in new infrastructure, including small modular reactors. “Keeping nuclear in the equation is going to give us the energy, the solution to the climate problem.”

He said that the involvement of the IAEA was crucial "because what we do is work with national regulators through very intensive peer reviews to make sure that Long Term Operation is giving you a new nuclear reactor, not simply an old one which is more or less muddling through".

Asked if he thought that from a climate change point-of-view, countries shutting reactors were making a mistake, he said: "Well in my personal opinion, yes. This is a matter that requires a technical, scientifically-sound discussion. I think from the vantage point of the nuclear sector, we must also recognise political realities, because in politics 2 plus 2 is not 4. Sometimes, from a scientific or technical point of view, it is very difficult to accept that people are taking decisions that do not seem to square, but it happens and the challenge for us is to prove, and to show, that keeping nuclear in the equation is going to give you the energy, is going to give you the solution to your climate problem, is going to give you jobs, is going to give you opportunities - it is going to give you things that are very important for political people to get the votes they need."

Other speakers on the first day of events at the Atoms4Climate pavilion included World Association of Nuclear Operators President, Mohamed Al Hammadi, who said that the “new momentum” seen in the civil nuclear industry sector was being driven by the world’s need for large scale decarbonisation and energy security, and the industry "must get ahead of the curve when it comes to ensuing that we have the resources and the capacity to deliver" safe, reliable and timely new capacity.

World Nuclear Association Director General, Sama Bilbao y León, said in a video message: "This is now the moment for the nuclear industry to really step up - it is essential for the nuclear industry to demonstrate it has the capacity and the ambition to deliver the massive contribution to climate change mitigation that is needed if the global community is to succeed in reaching net-zero with the urgency needed."

Another IAEA event on 8 November was a roundtable discussion, in which marine science experts discussed the role of the ocean in providing a long-term, nature-based solution to reducing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere – through carbon that can be stored long-term in the soils and vegetation of marine ecosystems, such as mangrove forests, salt marshes and seagrass meadows – known as Blue Carbon.

The IAEA is involved in Blue Carbon projects in more than 30 countries to assess the rates of carbon sequestration in vegetated coastal areas, and to aid in data collection. On the African continent alone the IAEA is working with 12 countries to build capacity on Blue Carbon. Through this regional technical cooperation project the IAEA is training scientists, and assists with the establishment of laboratories with the capability to accurately measure carbon sequestration rates.

“At the IAEA’s Marine Environment Laboratories in Monaco we are investigating the potential of coastal vegetative ecosystems as natural climate solutions to increase the drawdown of CO2 from the atmosphere and long-term storage of CO2 in the sediment,” said Jana Friedrich, Head of the IAEA Radioecology Laboratory.

Also on 8 November, IAEA released a comprehensive report on Nuclear Technologies and Climate Adaptation in Africa, describing how these technologies are already being widely used to build resilience on the continent. Africa has contributed very little to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and yet key sectors are already experiencing the damaging consequences of climate change.

“In nuclear science and its applications we have the tools to adapt to climate change conditions,” said Grossi. “The IAEA is at the centre of global efforts to make sure no one is left behind when it comes to benefiting from these indispensable assets.”

The report highlights IAEA projects that support countries in Africa in cultivating and exporting food, including growing drought-tolerant crops and applying the sterile insect technique (SIT) to eradicate insect populations, such as tsetse flies, fruit flies and mosquitoes, that harm both human health and the economies. IAEA projects have also strengthened Africa’s capacity to collect and analyse data on the quality of water in river basins and the ocean, allowing policymakers to put measures in place for better resource management, including water security in the Sahel and adapting to ocean acidification in coastal areas, which aims to protect the African fishing industry, and thus prevent environmental and social crises. The report emphasises the importance of partnerships in upscaling such projects.


Image: The IAEA's Atoms4Climate pavilion at COP27 (courtesy of IAEA)



Privacy Policy
We have updated our privacy policy. In the latest update it explains what cookies are and how we use them on our site. To learn more about cookies and their benefits, please view our privacy policy. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies. By continuing to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with our privacy policy unless you have disabled them.