“It's going to be a game changer.” The world's largest banks have decided to support nuclear energy

Fourteen of the world's banks, including among the largest financial organizations, have pledged to increase support for nuclear energy in order to By 2050, triple the world's production capacity. This is stated in the initiative's press release.

On Monday, September 23, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Ares Management, Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Brookfield, Citi, Credit Agricole CIB, Goldman Sachs, Guggenheim Securities LLC, Morgan Stanley, Rothschild & Co., Segra Capital Management and Societe Generale.

Reference The COP28 declaration on the tripling of nuclear energy capacity by 2050 was supported by more than 20 countries, including Ukraine. The signatories recognized the key role of nuclear energy in achieving global zero greenhouse gas emissions. The document was adopted in December 2023 at the UN World Conference on Climate Change (COP28) in Dubai.

The public show of support was a long-awaited acknowledgment that the financial sector has a critical role to play in the transition to low-carbon energy, notes the Financial Time.

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The complexity and high cost of financing nuclear projects has become a barrier to building new power plants and to a significant slowdown in growth rates in Western countries after the construction of a number of reactors in the 1970s and 1980s.

“This event will change the rules of the game,” – said George Borovas, head of the nuclear practice at law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth and a board member of the World Nuclear Association.

Until now, he said, it has been politically difficult for banks to support new nuclear projects, which often require approval from the CEO's office. .

At the same time, banks could support new plants by increasing direct lending and project financing to nuclear companies, by organizing the sale of bonds or by giving companies access to private investment or credit funds.

The current decision experts call a “tipping point” because such support would help normalize nuclear power as “part of the solution to climate change” rather than a “necessary evil”.

Nuclear power is also beginning to receive support from large technology companies that see it is a low-carbon solution for ensuring the operation of data centers. Microsoft has signed a 20-year contract with Constellation Energy to restore the 835-megawatt nuclear reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, which was in the process of being decommissioned.