China, Brazil, Italy and Belgium have joined a pledge, launched at COP28 two years ago, to triple global nuclear energy capacity between 2020 and 2050.

Ministers from these four countries announced their support at this week’s Nuclear Energy Summit in Paris, increasing the total number of backers to 38.

At the summit, Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing said China endorsed the pledge to help tackle climate change and strengthen energy security. “To deliver such ambitious goals we should uphold multilateralism, strengthen solidarity and cooperation and resist unilateralism and protectionism,” he said.

In the last 15 years, China has added more nuclear energy capacity than the rest of the world combined, mainly through large conventional reactors. The country is also planning to become a nuclear exporter, constructing its Hualong One reactor in Pakistan and Argentina.

Sama Bilbao y León, head of World Nuclear Association (WNA), said the new endorsements add “tremendous momentum” to the initiative.

Victor Ibarra, head of the nuclear energy programme at the climate think tank Clean Air Task Force (CATF), said that these endorsements reflect growing recognition for nuclear as a “reliable source of clean, firm power”.

He added that “geopolitical tensions and instability in oil and gas markets” highlight the risks of relying on “volatile fuel supplies”, motivating countries to seek a “more flexible, innovation-driven approach to the energy transition”.

In a report from last year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) heralded a “new era of growth” for nuclear power, as demand for clean electricity rises to power electric vehicles, data centres and artificial intelligence.

A 2026 WNA report projects the tripling goal is achievable if current planning targets hold. On the other hand, Jacopo Buongiorno, nuclear science and engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) told Climate Home News last August that meeting the target would need a supply chain scale-up of “epic” proportions.

Nuclear emerging in Global South

As the construction of new reactors has stagnated in the US and Europe over the last decade, large emerging economies like China, India, the UAE and South Korea have taken the lead. Now, Brazil is also voicing support.

Brazil’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the country would develop nuclear power responsibly and with “elevated standards for safety, protection and non-proliferation”.

In an interview with Deutsche Welle last week, Brazil’s energy minister Alexandre Silveira said that Brazil’s “future is nuclear”. Silveira has proposed replacing fossil fuel power plants in the Amazon with small modular reactors (SMR), of which only two exist in the world: one in China and one in Russia.

Brazil’s foreign ministry said the country’s large uranium reserves offer it energy security. Uranium is the main fuel used in nuclear reactors, but it requires a refining process known as “enrichment” before it can be used to produce power.

Caio Victor Vieira from the Brazilian climate think tank Talanoa Institute, said nuclear expansion offers only “limited” economic benefit for Brazil, given that the country already sources almost 90% of its electricity from clean sources – mostly hydropower.

He said Brazil’s signing of the pledge “is better understood as a diplomatic and strategic move” to support nuclear globally. “If Brazil were to pursue additional nuclear capacity in the future, it would require a broader domestic policy debate,” he added.

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Europeans divided on nuclear

About half of the pledge’s signatories are European but the continent has long been divided on the issue of nuclear power. France – which derives two-thirds of its power supply from nuclear – has championed this technology, with Germany pulling in the opposite direction.

At the summit on Tuesday, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen weighed into this debate, calling Europe’s move away from “reliable, affordable” nuclear in the last 30 years a “strategic mistake” that “should change”.

She added that the oil and gas crisis in the Middle East – which has raised the cost of electricity in gas-reliant countries – “gives a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities” that come from phasing out nuclear capacity.

“Europe has been a pioneer in nuclear technology and could once again lead the world in it. Next-generation nuclear reactors could become a European high-tech high-value export”, she said.

She argued that nuclear and renewables should be used in combination, as renewable energy is cheap but intermittent and often best produced far from where it is needed so nuclear energy, storage and improved grids are needed for a reliable energy system.

Europe’s move away from nuclear was led by its biggest economy Germany. Following Von der Leyen’s comments, German environment minister Carsten Schneider said that subsidising new reactors would require “very large amounts of money that would then not be available elsewhere”.

“Clean, safe electricity from wind and solar energy is affordable, has long been a driver of the energy transition and does not produce radioactive waste,” Schneider said.

However, German chancellor Friedrich Merz has indicated he would not oppose classifying nuclear as a clean energy source. His centre-right party governs in coalition with Schneider’s centre-left party

Japan’s anti-nuclear stance has also softened. The country shut down all reactors after the 2011 Fukushima disaster but is now restarting some, though it faces resistance over waste storage.

In the United States, the Trump administration has continued Biden-era support for nuclear energy—pushing new SMRs while weakening safety oversight and exempting reactors from some environmental reviews.

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China and Brazil join pledge to triple global nuclear energy capacity

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