Wednesday, 12 March 2025
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The announcement, at CERAWeek 2025 in Houston, Texas, in the USA, of the , follows earlier pledges by 31 countries, by 140 nuclear industry companies and 14 major global banks and financial institutions to support the tripling goal.
The pledge says that “despite ongoing energy efficiency and optimisation efforts, energy demand in many industries is expected to increase significantly in the coming years in order to support growing economies” and the signatories “agree that nuclear energy capacity should at least triple by 2050, from current levels, to help achieve global goals for enhanced energy resiliency and security, and continuous firm clean energy supply”.
It recognises “that large energy users often depend on the availability of abundant energy for their successful and cost-competitive operations, and that nuclear energy can provide round-the-clock energy independently of the weather, the season or the geographical location” and that “safe, clean, firm energy technologies, including nuclear, play an important role in creating a diversified and reliable grid”.
They also agree “that there is a significant role for nuclear technologies to provide generation for a wide range of economic activity, including the technology sector, increased electrification, the provision of high temperature industrial process heat, hydrogen production, district heating and the production of synthetic fuels” and “by ensuring that nuclear and other energy sources have equal access to finance, governments can enable nuclear capacity deployment at scale worldwide”. It also calls “on other large energy user companies to join this pledge”.
What the signatories said
Google’s Lucia Tian, Head of Clean Energy & Decarbonization Technologies, said: “We are proud to sign a pledge in support of tripling nuclear capacity by 2050, as nuclear power will be pivotal in building a reliable, secure, and sustainable energy future. Google will continue to work alongside our partners to accelerate the commercialisation of advanced nuclear technologies that can provide the around-the-clock clean energy necessary to meet growing electricity demand around the world.”
Amazon Web Services’ Brandon Oyer, Head of Americas Energy and Water, said: “Accelerating nuclear energy development will be critical to strengthening our nation’s security, meeting future energy demands, and addressing climate change. Amazon supports the World Nuclear Association’s pledge, and is proud to have invested more than USD1 billion over the last year in nuclear energy projects and technologies, which is part of our broader Climate Pledge commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040.”
Meta’s Urvi Parekh, Head of Global Energy, said: “As global economies expand, the need for a reliable, clean, and resilient energy supply is paramount. Nuclear energy, with its ability to provide continuous power, can help meet this rising demand. We’re excited to join alongside this multi-organisational effort with the Tripling Nuclear Pledge to reiterate our commitment to nuclear energy.”
Dow Energy & Climate Business Vice President Edward Stones said: “Energy is the lifeblood of global manufacturing and therefore investing and expanding access to clean, reliable, cost-competitive nuclear energy is critical to industrial progress. Dow considers nuclear energy, especially the promising technology of advanced small modular nuclear, to be a long-term competitive source of safe, firm and clean energy.”
The announcement
The official unveiling of the pledge will take place at a CERAWeek event co-hosted by World Nuclear Association and Urenco on Wednesday evening. Sama Bilbao y León, Director General of World Nuclear Association, said: “The unprecedented support announced today by some of the world’s most influential companies to at least triple global nuclear capacity by 2050 sends a clear signal to accelerate policy, finance and regulatory changes that enable the rapid expansion of nuclear power. The global shift towards more nuclear highlights this is the only way we’ll deliver the abundant firm clean energy required to power growth and innovation in technology, a host of other industries and the entire economy.”
Urenco Chief Commercial Officer Laurent Odeh said: “It will be a lot harder to address environmental concerns while facilitating economic development in the world without the reliable, 24/7 baseload power nuclear energy provides. This support from large energy users is another sign for governments to enable new nuclear projects so we can accelerate construction and meet the energy needs of both industry and the public.”
The background
Over the past year there have been a growing number of companies which use large amounts of energy – and expect their needs to increase – who have announced plans to invest in nuclear energy as a way to meet their requirements while also cutting their carbon emissions. The growing energy demands of AI and data centres has led to large numbers of small modular reactor, and some large-scale new nuclear units, being planned or discussed, as well as growing recognition from other industries that they can use nuclear-generated energy and heat to decarbonise their industrial processes.
The initial pledge to triple global nuclear energy capacity was launched by World Nuclear Association in partnership with Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation ahead of the COP28 summit in Dubai in 2023.
Nuclear energy currently accounts for 9% of the world’s electricity from 439 operable nuclear power reactors. Global energy demand is projected to grow at about 4% per year, according to the International Energy Agency.
