FORATOM welcomes agreement on EU Climate Law ahead of Biden Summit

Brussels, 22 April 2021: FORATOM welcomes the EU’s provisional agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% in 2030.  This shows that, at least on paper, the EU is serious about tackling climate change.

“Reducing CO2 emissions is essential if the EU is to meet its commitments under the Paris agreement, and this climate law is a step in the right direction”, states Yves Desbazeille, FORATOM Director General. “What is very clear is that the EU needs to ensure that its policies follow the science and treat all low-carbon technologies equally. Indeed, these revised targets are more ambitious than before and cannot be achieved without the long-term operation of existing nuclear power plants”  

FORATOM will shortly be publishing an update of its 2050 vision which shows that, in the medium term, the early closure of the existing nuclear fleet, would be catastrophic and lead to a significant increase in power sector CO2 emissions in the short term. If current nuclear policies are not reviewed they will also jeopardise security of supply in many EU countries.

This agreement comes at a perfect time as world leaders will be meeting today and tomorrow at the invitation of US President Biden.  The goal of this summit is to ramp up greenhouse gas reduction actions.  As highlighted by representatives of the global nuclear industry, including FORATOM, we have less than thirty years to cut carbon emissions from every sector of our global economy to zero. To meet the urgency and the magnitude of this challenge we must take a realistic, science-based approach that addresses all sectors. The world will need to generate many times more clean energy than we do today. To achieve this will require that we use every low-carbon technology at our disposal including nuclear. .

The full statement can be found here and is issued jointly by: Canadian Nuclear Association, FORATOM, Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, Nuclear Energy Institute, Nuclear Industry Association and World Nuclear Association.

About us: The European Atomic Forum (FORATOM) is the Brussels-based trade association for the nuclear energy industry in Europe. The membership of FORATOM is made up of 15 national nuclear associations and through these associations, FORATOM represents nearly 3,000 European companies working in the industry and supporting around 1,100,000 jobs.

For more information, please contact Jessica Johnson: jessica.johnson@foratom.org.