The World Bank should update its policy to include nuclear energy in its support for all clean energy technologies, according to Agneta Rising, director general of World Nuclear Association (WNA) on Tuesday.
The comment came after the World Bank Group's announcement on Tuesday that it would stop investing in upstream oil and gas, and would provide analysis to support efforts towards a transition away from coal.
However, efforts to transition to a clean energy mix could be hampered by the World Bank's insistence that it does not 'do nuclear energy,' the WNA said.
'The World Bank should be held responsible for not supporting equally all clean technologies,' Rising was quoted as saying.
'The International Energy Agency's Sustainable Development Scenario makes it clear that achieving both our environmental objectives and our global development goals will require a mix of clean energy technologies, including nuclear energy, in order to supply reliable, 24/7 low-carbon electricity to meet the world's needs,' she added.
The World Bank's president, Jim Yong Kim, had previously stated that the World Bank Group does not engage in providing support for nuclear power and instead focuses on finding ways of working with hydropower, geothermal, solar and wind.
'The World Bank has an outdated policy that doesn't make the most of all clean technologies, especially the services nuclear gives to society and the electricity system. The IEA recognizes that nuclear has a key role to play. We expect the World Bank to do the same,' she added.
The global nuclear industry has a target of supplying 25 percent of the world's electricity by 2050, which would require the construction of 1000 gigawatts of new nuclear power capacity, according to WNA.
'The World Bank should help support this goal, rather than arbitrarily exclude vital low-carbon options such as nuclear energy,' Rising concluded.
By Huseyin Erdogan
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr