The world’s largest and most influential development bench said on Wednesday that the long -standing ban on financing projects for financing nuclear energy would increase.
The decision of the World Bank’s board could have in -depth consequences for the ability of developing countries to industrialize without burning planet -warming fuels such as coal and oil.
The prohibition has been formally in force since 2013, but the last time the bank financed a nuclear energy project was 1959 in Italy. In the following decades, some of the most important financiers of the bank, in particular Germany, opposed his involvement in nuclear energy, on the basis of the risk of catastrophic accidents in poor countries with less expertise in nuclear technology was unacceptably high.
The policy change of the bank, described in an e -mail in an e -mail to employees on Wednesday, is because nuclear energy experiences a global increase in support.
Casting of nuclear energy as an essential replacement for fossil fuels, more than 20 countries signed – including the United States, Canada, France and Ghana – in 2050 a promise to triple nuclear energy on the Climate Conference flagship of the United Nations.
The Trump administration, although much less concerned about climate change than it is with competing against the Russian and Chinese nuclear industry, is try to expand the fleet of American reactors And their contribution to the country’s electric schedules quadruple. Cabinet officials have emphasized support for a new generation of smaller reactors that offer the promise of a faster deployment, but still have to be proven.
The United States is the largest shareholder in the World Bank and has a significant influence on its policy. In April, Minister of Finance Scott Bessent insisted on lifting her ban at the bankIn a speech saying that “a revolution would bring about in the energy supply for many emerging markets.”
A new government in Germany, led by the Christian Democratic Union, has expressed support for nuclear energy, in particular the smaller reactors of the next generation. Germany decided to gradually The Fukushima disaster in 2011 And closes his last reactor in 2023.
Even the Union of Concerned Scientists, long has a voice of caution on nuclear proliferation, soften his attitude in recent years, Saying that although it is not support for building new reactors, “the low -carbon electricity provided by existing nuclear power plants, is becoming increasingly valuable in the fight against climate change.”
The bank’s step was welcomed by proponents of nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels, the fires of which are the main cause of global warming.
“If you give to get the world of coal, then this is potentially huge, especially in Southeast Asia,” said Todd Moss, executive director of the Energy for Growth Hub. Countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia are highly coal -dependent and have sought loans to help them retire coal plants early by replacing them with cleaner alternatives.
The bank stopped financing oil and gas drilling projects in 2017, but continues to work on some gas-related infrastructure in developing countries. In the E -mail on Wednesday to employees, the president of the bank, Ajay Banga, it has also abolished the possibility that a ban on financing oil and gas drilling could be lifted in the future, but no agreement had been reached.
In the past decade, the bank has performed the share of its financing that goes to projects that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions or to help bad countries to adapt to climate change. That has led to criticism from the Trump government. But Mr Banga has sworn to keep his climate obligations Expand access to energy enforcement to hundreds of millions of people in Africa Who still miss it. Much of that effort is based on small-scale solar energy.
“I am not a climate evangelist,” Mr Banga said this year in an interview. “I’m just the man who gets the stuff done.”
Russia, China, the United States and the European countries are in different stages of developing small modular reactors and financing the World Bank can help stimulate their development by opening new markets in developing countries.
Currently, developing countries largely look at Russia and China for nuclear technology and financing. Because those countries have nuclear energy companies that are partly or entirely in the hands of the state, and who control everything, from fuel to financing to construction, developing countries can approach them as simple one-stop stores.
“The Russian and Chinese deals come with 30 to 40-year-old fuel-lock agreements,” said Mr. Moss. His organization estimates that 20 countries that do not have access to nuclear energy, or all have the technical expertise to start construction or by 2030.
For example, Ghana has encouraged the World Bank to change its nuclear policy because it wants to build its own reactors without having to throw his fate in one geopolitical corner. It has been trying it since the 1960s.
“Things are slow for us because of the global politics around nuclear, but we prepared, set up an institutional structure, identified sites,” said Ishmael Ackah, a technical adviser from the Ministry of Energy of Ghana. “We want a 24-hour economy, industrial production to take place day and night,” said Mr Ackah.
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