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CDM may include nuclear power

17 June 2008

Nuclear power may qualify as a clean-energy source and earn air-pollution credits under a UN-programme to slow global warming, a key advisor at the world body said on Thursday.

Yvo de Boer, executive secretary to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, speaking in Bonn on Thursday at the 170-nation climate conference, said nuclear power and CO2 storage could be added to a list of approved technologies.

"Nuclear power has to be considered,'' said Mr de Boer.

The CDM is a trade system for credits for avoiding emissions.

It has helped cut 152 million tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere, according to UN figures.

Some nations consider nuclear power, which emits almost no CO2, as a key energy clean energy to cut greenhouse gases.

Mr de Boer said the UN's Clean Development Mechanism was working well. He also commented that it was 'inconceivable' that CO2 emissions will be cut without using carbon capture and storage carbon capture storage techniques in coal-dependent countries such as India and China.

The Bonn talks come ahead of the make or break summit in Copenhagen in December next year, which will look for thrash out a successor to the Kyoto protocol.

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