The international climate negotiations in Paris last week produced a global agreement to limit global average temperature increases to below 2 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial period by 2100. The IAEA and others have argued that nuclear power should be recognized as a sustainable source of energy and be considered on equal footing with other low-carbon energy sources in climate mitigation.

What has been achieved in Paris and what is the role for nuclear under the agreement? David Shropshire, head of the IAEA delegation at COP21, has answered our questions.

Q: Will the Paris Agreement save the world from the worst effects of climate change or was it a fudged agreement without an enforcement mechanism, as some critics say?

A: The Paris Agreement marks an important start of a coordinated global process to address climate change. 196 countries have actually come to an agreement in principle, which didn’t seem achievable before. The agreement has aggressive targets requiring immediate attention and action. It includes the framework, processes and time scales necessary to ratchet up actions in step with increasing national ambitions, data on actual Earth warming and the latest forecasts on climate change. It encourages nations to re-evaluate plans in consideration of the increased ambition necessary to meet the goals of the Agreement, and it ties climate change to other UN Sustainable Development Goals, encouraging the development of more integrated solutions.

Negotiators have agreed on pragmatic measures to be able to reach the agreement putting the responsibility for action to the national level, where countries have the latitude in deciding how to meet their goals via low-carbon technologies, carbon offsets, or other actions.

Q: The IAEA had argued that nuclear energy should be recognised as a low-carbon source of sustainable energy and be treated on par with renewables. Has this happened?

A: The Paris Agreement neither defines energy technologies as low-carbon, nor specifies any energy technology. Instead, it describes “technology” in terms of research, development and demonstration, transfer, capacity building, needs assessment, action plans and project ideas, mechanisms, centres, committees and networks. All these are applicable to nuclear. Consequently, all energy technologies, low-carbon and fossil, are on the table.

Through IAEA participation at COP21 we contributed to increase awareness of the potential for nuclear power as a tool for mitigation of climate change. We could also provide information on how nuclear applications help to measure the effects of climate change in, for instance, ocean acidification, and its impact on polar and mountainous regions, and how nuclear technology can assist with adaptation in, for instance, climate-smart agriculture.