Nations that embraced renewable energy have significantly cut their carbon emissions, but those pursuing nuclear power failed to do so, researchers have found.
Nuclear and renewables are seen as two key ways for governments to decarbonise, but the question of whether one is more effective for tackling climate change hasn’t been fully addressed. With several countries on the brink of deciding whether to back new nuclear plants to meet carbon targets, the answer matters.
To find out, Benjamin Sovacool at the University of Sussex, UK, and his colleagues looked at carbon dioxide emissions and GDP over 25 years. They found that in 117 countries using renewables, CO2 emissions per capita dropped from 0.69 tons on average during 1990 to 2004 to 0.61 tons in 2000 to 2014. These latter figures include a further six countries.
Advertisement
However, in the same periods, the 30 countries using nuclear stayed largely flat, shifting from an average 0.52 tons of CO2 per capita to 0.51. The two groups of countries overlap because some fall into both. Renewables included wind, solar, hydro and biomass energy.
For Sovacool, the lesson for governments is clear: “If you’re focusing on what we can do to mitigate emissions in the next 15 years, pursue renewables and not nuclear. The current [nuclear] technology we have, when deployed at scale, historically is not as good at cutting emissions. There may be many reasons to do nuclear, but fighting climate change isn’t one of them.”
The reason for the results isn’t clear – the analysis found a correlation, not a causation – but Sovacool has ideas. Nuclear power is restricted due to international treaties limiting the spread of nuclear weapons, as material from reactors can be used to make bombs. Renewables aren’t, enabling more countries to learn from one another, such as Germany benefiting from Chinese economies of scale on solar.
Other reasons may be that renewables are cheaper and quicker to build, that nuclear is experiencing regulatory setbacks after disasters such as Fukushima and that renewables are more socially acceptable, says Sovacool.
Trade body RenewableUK says a “wide range of low-carbon energy sources” are needed to cut emissions. The World Nuclear Association disagreed with the study’s conclusions, arguing that the findings were distorted by including hydropower, which was the dominant renewable technology for 1990 to 2004.
Nature Energy
Sign up to our free Fix the Planet newsletter to get a dose of climate optimism delivered straight to your inbox, every Thursday
