International conference to address climate change, nuclear power role

International Atomic Energy (IAEA) Association officials said Hoesung Lee would deliver the key address at the International Conference on Climate Change and the Role of Nuclear Power next month in Vienna.

Lee, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and leader of the United Nations body responsible for assessing climate change science, will headline a group of prominent conference speakers. The event will be conducted Oct. 7-11.

“Nuclear power has long made a major contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and currently produces one-third of the world’s low carbon electricity while also supporting sustainable development and fulfilling growing energy demands,” IAEA Deputy Director General Mikhail Chudakov, head of the Department of Nuclear Energy, said. “We are honored that Dr. Hoesung Lee, one of the world’s leading scientific voices on climate change, is bringing his expertise to this first-of-a-kind conference.”

Last year, the IPCC featured four model pathways for limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the threshold at which most experts believe the worst impacts from climate change can still be avoided. Each of the model pathways included increases in nuclear power generation by 2050, ranging between 59 percent and 501 percent.

“By bringing together experts and policymakers from around the world to exchange views and experiences, the conference can advance our understanding of the potential for nuclear power to add to its ongoing contribution to climate change mitigation and sustainable development,” said Wei Huang, the lead scientific secretary of the conference and Director of Division of Planning, Information and Knowledge Management at the IAEA’s Department of Nuclear Energy.