Nuclear power: Can nuclear power be sustainable?

Editorial "Nuclear power"

In February 2022, the EU Commission officially added nuclear power and gas to its Taxonomy, which stipulates what financial investments can be classified as climate-friendly. As far as the Austrian federal government – but also sustainable investors – are concerned, however, this runs counter to the EU’s climate action agenda. The move has prompted Raiffeisen Capital Managementto take a closer look at nuclear power in this issue and explore the arguments for and against its use from a sustainability perspective (read our leading article "Can nuclear power be sustainable")..

While supporters highlight its low carbon emissions as a key argument in favour of using nuclear power and, when questioned about nuclear waste, point to the technological advances made in waste disposal, opponents mention massive costs and equally significant risks. New power plants take decades to plan and build, they say, and would arrive much too late to be of any real benefit to the energy transition. Read more in our roundtable discussion.

By introducing this new classification, is the EU Commission thus actually harming the sustainability cause by channelling urgently needed funds for the energy transition in the wrong directions? We believe that it is. This is because, conversely, renewables – wind and solar as well as hydropower – actually harbour huge potential for saving CO2. Besides already being available, these technologies are also getting even better and cheaper year on year.

From a purely economic perspective, therefore, renewables are more attractive to investors than nuclear power. This raises the hope that, despite all the possibilities, most of the capital will ultimately be guided into the right channels – namely truly sustainable ones – enabling support for projects that can make a genuine contribution to the energy transition.

Dieter Aigner, M.A. (FH)
Managing Director of Raiffeisen KAG, responsible for fund management and sustainability

Can nuclear power be sustainable?

The EU Commission has said that investments in new nuclear power plants can be climate-friendly under certain conditions. This makes them sustainable within the meaning of the EU Taxonomy, the system used to classify the environmental sustainability of economic activities. This unexpected step has met with vociferous criticism in some quarters, and Austria has appealed to the European Court of Justice for it to be declared null and void.

Sustainability & nuclear power

Nuklear Policy

For Raiffeisen KAG, nuclear power is not one of the forms of energy that should be supported with investments. Every euro invested in nuclear power could be invested more promisingly and sustainably in renewable energies.

About Raiffeisen Capital Management's nuclear policy

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