Paris Climate Agreement Crosses Final Threshold

• Historic accord will enter into force Nov. 4
• President Obama cites role for nuclear energy
• EPA’s Clean Power Plan an instrument to meeting U.S. climate goal

Oct. 6, 2016—The European Union yesterday deposited with the United Nations its accession instruments to the Paris Agreement on climate change, bringing the treaty over the final threshold needed for it to enter into force next month.

“This is a momentous occasion. What once seemed unthinkable is now unstoppable. Strong international support for the Paris Agreement entering into force is a testament to the urgency for action, and reflects the consensus of governments that robust global cooperation, grounded in national action, is essential to meet the climate challenge,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Oct. 5.

“The U.S. nuclear energy industry is key to the long-term success of this landmark achievement,” NEI President and Chief Executive Officer Marvin Fertel said.

“Our nation has the most advanced nuclear energy technology in the world, making us ideally positioned to support global expansion of nuclear energy as a means for the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an affordable manner. Any nation committed to a credible emissions reduction program cannot succeed without nuclear energy.”

More than 190 nations reached the landmark agreement in Paris last December to follow a path to lower greenhouse gas emissions, decarbonize their economies and combat the threat of climate change. The overarching aim is to limit global average temperature increases from preindustrial levels to below 2 degrees Celsius by the end of this century. The agreement commits countries to offer “nationally determined contributions” toward cutting their greenhouse gas emissions and establishes mechanisms to hold them accountable. Significantly, countries are allowed to count nuclear energy toward their carbon-cutting solutions.

In a conversation on climate change at a White House event earlier in the week, President Obama touched on the role nuclear energy must play in meeting the agreement’s climate goals.

While future technological innovations will be required to meet the United States’ clean energy goals, using existing technologies to the maximum extent possible over the next 20 years also will be essential, “so that by the time those technologies are ready we haven't already created an irreversible problem,” Obama said.

“The fact that we're transitioning from coal to natural gas means less greenhouse gases. Same thing with nuclear power. … Nuclear power generally evokes a lot of stuff in our imaginations. But nuclear power doesn’t emit greenhouse gases,” he added.

In the United States, nuclear reactors operating in 30 states provide almost 20 percent of the country’s power—and 62 percent of its noncarbon electricity. An additional reactor—Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar 2—is about to begin commercial operations, and four additional reactors are in advanced stages of construction in Georgia and South Carolina.

The U.S. pledge to the Paris Agreement is to reduce economywide carbon emissions by 26 to 28 percent of 2005 levels by 2025 and acknowledges the need to decarbonize the electric sector. A major contributor to meeting that goal will be the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, which aims to cut carbon pollution at the state or regional levels from new and existing power plants by 32 percent of 2005 levels by 2030. The plan explicitly recognizes the key clean air role that U.S. nuclear energy facilities play. According to EPA, the Clean Power Plan would go some 7 percent of the way to meeting the total U.S. commitment to the Paris Agreement.

“In the United States, 62 percent of our carbon-free electricity generation comes from nuclear energy; 19 percent comes from hydroelectric generation; 15 percent from wind; and 2 percent from solar. While the nuclear energy industry is committed to helping our nation reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the United States won’t be able to fulfill our Paris Agreement commitment because we’re prematurely shutting down reliable, affordable, well-run nuclear power plants. Nearly a dozen reactors have closed in recent years. Unfortunately many more are at risk because competitive electric markets don’t compensate our baseload nuclear plants for the grid and price stability they provide, nor for their clean air compliance and greenhouse gas reduction value,” Fertel noted.

“Current state and federal policies that support renewable energy only and ignore the broader carbon-free value of hydroelectric and nuclear energy facilities compound the problem. If this situation isn’t corrected, we’ll needlessly lose more nuclear plants, and carbon reduction efforts will be doomed to failure.”

In August, New York’s Public Service Commission unanimously approved a Clean Energy Standard, explicitly recognizing the role that nuclear energy facilities must play in meeting the state’s ambitious carbon emission reduction goals. The standard is expected to serve as a model for other states.

For the Paris Agreement to enter into force, at least 55 countries representing at least 55 percent of global emissions had to ratify it. As of Oct. 5, 73 countries and the European Union have joined the agreement, exceeding the 55 percent emissions threshold.

Once the agreement enters into force Nov. 4, 30 days after the threshold conditions were met, countries will be required to transform the climate action plans they submitted to the Paris conference into Nationally Determined Contributions and update them every five years. Governments will also be obligated to take action to achieve the two temperature limits enshrined in the agreement.

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