Powering up: The world is warming up to nuclear energy as nations scramble for zero-carbon electricity

Synopsis: Every first and third Sunday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change.

For years, nuclear energy has been reviled as an energy source over safety, cost and the time taken to build the power plants.

But with the world’s growing need for clean electricity to fuel everything from electric vehicles, heating and cooling to giant data centres, nuclear energy is getting its time in the sun again.

Some countries, such as the United States, Japan and France, have committed to tripling nuclear energy capacity by 2050, while others, like Singapore, have said it is not ruling out its use. China is also making big investments in nuclear energy.

Compared to generators powered by fossil fuels, nuclear reactors do not produce any planet-warming emissions.

But will this be the silver bullet to getting the world to net-zero? What else is needed in the world’s decarbonisation journey?

Our guest is Mr Chris Bradley, Director of McKinsey Global Institute and Senior Partner of McKinsey & Company. The institute is the consultancy’s research arm. Chris co-wrote a recent report looking at the global decarbonisation challenge and found that we are only about 10 per cent of the way on the low-emissions journey.