The Alarming Rise of False Climate Solutions in Africa: The Nuclear Energy Misadventure

NEW REPORT CATALOGUES AFRICA’S NUCLEAR ENERGY MISADVENTURE

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In advance of the Bonn Climate Conference SB62 which commences 16 June, twelve civil society organisations from across the African continent as well as Europe and Russia have come together to publish a comprehensive new report on the growing number of African nations considering nuclear energy as part of their overall energy mix.

Angola, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda have all made announcements concerning new nuclear power plants. South Africa has the continent’s only operating nuclear power plant, commissioned in 1984 under the apartheid government

‘The alarming rise of false climate solutions in Africa: the nuclear energy misadventure’ has been prepared by campaigners as a collective advocacy report with a number of strong recommendations that reflect the breadth of civil society’s shared concerns about the development of nuclear energy across the continent. They are united in a call for a nuclear free Africa, safe from the dangers of nuclear energy and instead building a future powered by clean, affordable solutions.

‘The demand for a Just Transition to a post-carbon economy means it must be green, sustainable and socially inclusive. This comprehensive report lays out the case for why the nuclear energy option is not compatible with these demands. It shows how the nuclear energy lobby undermines and obstructs the need for net zero to be achieved by 100% clean sustainable renewable energy’ writes Makoma Lekalakala, Goldman Prize recipient for Africa 2018, in her foreword.

‘The alarming rise of false climate solutions in Africa: the nuclear energy misadventure’ gives details on the extent of plans and announcements to roll out nuclear power plants across the African continent. It explores the numerous reasons why this is not the answer to the continent’s effort to reduce emissions – the urgency of the climate crisis means nuclear energy is too slow to deliver; it is harmful to human health and the environment; and unlike renewables not suited to solving the present problems of energy poverty.

‘The alarming rise of false climate solutions in Africa: the nuclear energy misadventure’ makes the case that the continent is becoming both a potential testing ground and, in particular, a battleground for conflicting geopolitical influences that are also playing out in the field of nuclear technology exports, or rather the prospect of such exports. At the same time, the nuclear energy lobby’s extensive, well-funded and global PR effort, including at UNFCCC climate meetings is also documented in the report.

Instead, the report authors call for an end to plans and announcements to spend billions on building new nuclear power plants. Three quarters of Africa’s climate finance needs are not met and more than half of existing climate finance is in debt instruments. The focus on nuclear energy will severely crowd out already precious and inadequate climate finance for climate mitigation, adaption and renewable energy generation projects.

The climate emergency has thrown a lifeline to the nuclear power industry. This report makes clear that Africa’s energy needs do not require nuclear power. The way forward clearly lies in funding clean, safe renewable energy sources, of which the continent has an abundance.

Tipping Point North South is one of the authors of the report. Transform Defence for Sustainable Human Safety is its main policy/advocacy project.