As nuclear power makes a comeback, China is poised to be the net-zero hero

While Europe may need to reconsider nuclear power amid a global energy crisis, China is already ahead of the pack

With more countries hastening their transition to clean energy, dependence on China will only grow. But for many Western politicians and industrialists, it is of concern that all the roads to net zero travel through China

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Staff of China National Nuclear Corporation’s Southwestern Institute of Physics work on the installation of the HL-2M Tokamak, China’s new-generation “artificial sun,” in Chengdu in southwest China’s Sichuan province on September 16, 2019. Photo: Xinhua

David Dodwell

David Dodwell is CEO of the trade policy and international relations consultancy Strategic Access.

Published: 12:30am, 11 Jul 2022

If the task of getting to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 looked tough in Glasgow in November last year, then a combination of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, disruption of world oil and gas supply chains and rising inflation pushing many of the world’s largest economies towards recession make prospects grimmer.

It is a lucky government with time to spare a thought for net zero, let alone the multiple billions of hard dollars needed to get there.

As McKinsey and Company reported in May, the pandemic “has caused an estimated 25 million deaths, increased global public debt by 28 per cent to 256 per cent of GDP, shrunk global GDP by 3.3 per cent, and given rise to rapidly increasing inflation”.

Even before the invasion of Ukraine, “the world was not on a path to achieve net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050”, it noted, adding: “It seems clear at this point the war will complicate the transition’s path in the short term.”

Still, McKinsey argued that throughout history, conflicts have often accelerated energy transitions, and that the extreme energy shock facing the European Union, and Germany in particular, “could kick net-zero transition efforts into higher gear”.

I think we will need to wait for COP27, the UN climate conference to be held in November in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, to take a view on that.