France's proposal to declare electricity generated in nuclear power plants as climate-friendly is a disaster in terms of climate policy. "The only beneficiary will be French industry", says Markus W. Voigt, CEO of the aream Group. "This will particularly be at the expense of Germany and may have a significant impact on economic development in 2022."

For the French industry, nuclear power is one of the essential sources of energy. "This energy, produced in more or less old nuclear power plants that have long since been written off, is significantly cheaper than the electricity produced in Germany", says Voigt. "It would make sense for climate as well as safety reasons to take these nuclear reactors off the grid." But it looks like the opposite may be happening. "The world has set out to produce its energy in a climate-neutral way", Voigt says. "But nuclear power is absolutely the wrong way to do that." 

Back in 2014, the World Climate Organization (IPCC) already found that nuclear power plants emit between 3.7 and 110 grams of CO₂ equivalents per kilowatt hour generated. "Furthermore, it depends on whether only the operating phase or also construction and, above all, dismantling are included in the calculation", says Voigt. In any case, nuclear power plants with emissions of several hundred thousand metric tons of CO₂ equivalents certainly represent a significant burden on the climate. And even today, about 70 years since the peaceful use of nuclear energy began, the challenges of dismantling and storing contaminated sites have still not been solved.

The French proposal has nothing to do with climate policy, but everything to do with industrial policy. "This is clearly about advantages for French companies", says Voigt. "The climate argument is just a cover and should be designated as such by the other EU states as soon as possible." The only way to produce electricity in the most climate-friendly way possible is to expand renewable energies. "This is the focus of policymakers worldwide, this is where private capital is being mobilized, this is where all efforts are helpful and important", says Voigt. "Painting nuclear power plants green is counterproductive: this is how humanity loses years on the way to transforming energy supply from sustainable sources."