ECO is concerned that amongst all the climate solutions that are presented at COP26 there are promoters who are queuing up to receive climate finance for proposed technologies that create at least as many problems as they attempt to solve.
At COP26, the very visible promoters of nuclear power and their industry backers, are somehow forgetting to mention that nuclear is much slower to implement than sustainable renewable energies, much more costly and uses a hugely unsustainable amount of water, often from sources that could be used as drinking water, cleaning water and/or for agricultural purposes. The technology is unsafe and there’s also the still unsolved problem of radioactive waste. Funding spent on nuclear power is money that slows down climate action. Building nuclear power puts countries in debt for decades, and the costs of accidents are not even in the budget. Faster and stronger emissions reductions will be realized if the same money were spent on renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Unsustainable biomass use is another problematic ‘solution’ that can increase climate change while also creating many local problems, and harming populations and nature around the world. This includes much of liquid biomass that is blended into transport fuels, as well as large scale biomass that’s imported into countries that want a quick fix for replacing coal use.