atw - International Journal for Nuclear Power | 6.2023

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atw Vol. 68 (2023) | Ausgabe 6 ı November ENERGY POLICY, ECONOMY AND LAW 30 out-number them in the COPs – stipulating general criteria to be fulfilled by technology. In its 2019 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change took a rather optimistic view on nuclear technology [8] . At first glance, the first place to look for a hook for nuclear energy in the PA is Article 10, the technology framework, which is alimented with the financial mechanism stipulated in Article 11. However, as the instruments and bodies of this framework and mechanism evolved, their criteria became practically hostile to nuclear technology. In addition to national regulatory prerogatives, activities under this framework and mechanism need to be sustainable, comply with adequate local consultation processes, set a path to (net) zero emissions, incorporate indigenous technologies, and be inclusive. As a result, there is a bias towards smaller-scale projects [2] . Additionally, there is the not always specified but often also considered avoidance of lock-in technologies, which are technologies requiring a longer-term perspective for their implementation, economic pay-off, or deployment. This, again, discourages considering nuclear technology. This bias can be empirically verified by reviewing the projects financed by the Green Climate Fund and the activities undertaken by the Climate Technology Center and Network as examples. A review of these projects also shows the absence of nuclear energy, technology, or any capacity building related to them [2] . On the other hand, there is no indication that these conditionalities also apply outside the scope of the formalized institutions under PA 10/11. In other words, they are not applicable to bi/multilateral or private actions. While some of these are currently emerging, many questions regarding them remain unanswered. Chief among them is whether they really belong to PA 10/11. Most interpretations of the Agreement take these Articles to only recognize actions taken within the framework and the mechanism. These are identified with bodies established by the Convention. But even bi/multilateral or private actions were recognized under PA10/11, methodological difficulties regarding their verification and comparability remain. So far, all (of the few) methodologies have been developed for activities undertaken by the bodies under the Convention. PA 6.8 offers more leeway; by design and by the current state of its negotiations, it is more open, broader, and flexible. There are several reasons explaining this: First, PA 6.8 relies explicitly on cooperation between Parties; it does neither establish any type of body nor request the Convention to develop specific criteria, methodologies, or guidance. Second, it is Party-driven, letting it open to Parties to interpret on their own the meaning of “integrated, holistic and balanced”. Third, it explicitly acknowledges all the dimensions of the Agreement, mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology transfer, and capacity building, thus opening a door to actions aiming at combining them. Fourth, it emphasizes not only sustainable development but also the reduction of poverty. And fifth, it calls for private-public partnership [9] . Making the Case for Nuclear in PA 6.8 Activities under PA 6.8 are party-driven and do not need to comply with any criteria other than the ones specified by the Parties involved. The only two safeguards to be considered are the transnationality of the cooperation and the absence of an exchange of units (independently from whether they are priced in a market). Activities under PA 6.8 are also open for substate and non-state agents, provided their cooperation fulfills these safeguards. Nuclear technology seems to be a good fit for such activities. It has the advantage of when employed to generate electricity, mitigating emissions, at least in comparison to many other forms of production. It also enables adaptation through electrification, which, in turn, is beneficial to sustainable development and the reduction of poverty [10]. However, this relationship might be well known in circles with sympathies for nuclear technology but is not evident to negotiators. It is even denied by most pressure groups, which outnumber negotiators in the meetings of the Parties to the Convention. While this lack of knowledge might not influence directly an activity incorporating nuclear technology – the activity only needs the agreement of the participating agents –it can still become the object of discord in the interactive modes of the Agreement when Parties comment on each other’s ambitions and instruments, the Global Stocktake. The more important that well-established research demonstrates the relationship Energy Policy, Economy and Law Nuclear Energy under Article 6.8 of the Paris Agreement ı Henrique Schneider
atw Vol. 68 (2023) | Ausgabe 6 ı November between nuclear technology, mitigation, adaptation, sustainable development, and eradication of poverty. Placing nuclear technology under PA 6.8 is a matter of finding working partnerships and communicating the different results of the partnership, making sure that most or all the desiderata of that Article are met. In the explicit call for a holistic approach, corporations deploying nuclear technology should be able to show how its employment permanently changes sectors such as health, the economy, education, security, or culture. There is yet another approach for including nuclear technology under PA 6.8. That Article can be understood as a more flexible, “less strings attached” alternative to PA 10/11. As mentioned above, the interplay of the financial and technological provisions of the Agreement are, in their implementation, strongly determined by several constraints. PA 6.8 has none of these constraints. Instead, activities under its umbrella can be deployed as agreed by the participants, for example, in financing nuclear technology or agreeing to research it. In fact, one of the examples of the operationalization of PA 6.8 showcased in a report commissioned by the German ministry in charge of climate change in 2021 is nuclear technology and cooperation in financing and researching it. By the reasoning contained there: “Innovation and transformation are often intrinsically linked with advances in international research. The current Presidency proposal on the NMA forum and work program encourages Parties and other stakeholders to actively engage in research of NMAs …. International research collaboration can also be a non-market approach to cooperation in itself. Many R&D processes rely on public funding, especially in the absence of commercial research. Private finance has played an important role in the development of energy-efficient technologies and renewable energies. However, there are also some emerging technologies with substantial mitigation potential that are not attractive to commercial research due to their stage of development. Also, the development of adaptation technologies has been lagging behind the one of mitigation technologies. Therefore, the combination of public finance from different states in an international R&D program could be an efficient means to roll out emerging adaptation and mitigation technologies. The focus on international research collaboration could help to use limited public finance more efficiently. The design of such a collaborative format is decisive for its success. The multinational research program on nuclear fusion (ITER) is an example of best practice in this space. The ITER Agreement on a multinational R&D program was signed in 2006 by China, the EU, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, and the United States. The goal of this collaboration between 35 nations is to prove the feasibility of nuclear fusion energy. For this purpose, sizeable public resources of double-digit billion USD have been combined. The members of the agreement do not only share the costs of the entire project, but also the trial results and intellectual property generated throughout the project by its staff members …. R&D efforts around the world are efficiently coordinated to ensure the successful integration and assembly of the one million components the fusion reactor consists of and which have been built by different members. [11] ” This focus on research collaboration shown in the report comes from its intention of showcasing existing activities that would fit under PA 6.8, therefore, the example of ITER. The US-American FIRST, Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of Nuclear Technology, as well as the EU’s European SMR partnership, could also be easily included in this list. FIRST is even well-positioned to show how nuclear technology can propel sustainable development and the eradication of poverty since it explicitly addresses, as pillars of the cooperation, the development of workforce, stakeholder engagement, and regulatory development (capacity building) [2] . From the point of view of making the case for the adequate inclusion of nuclear technology under PA 6.8, these examples, focusing primarily on financing and transferring technology, bear the potential to convince negotiators and parts of the broad public. They show how international, non-market cooperation is possible regarding nuclear. They elucidate the holistic and integrated benefits of this technology. They point to an alternative in the Agreement to the constrained provisions of PA 10/11. To convince negotiators, the activities need to demonstrate how mitigation, adaptation, sustainable development, and the eradication of poverty complement each other in a virtuous circle around nuclear technology. Note additionally that the same report [11] also outlines significant possibilities for non-state actors with regard to developing, financing, and governing projects under PA 6.8, which, again, fits with nuclear technology in which research facilities and corporations can play a significant role in public-private ENERGY POLICY, ECONOMY AND LAW 31 Energy Policy, Economy and Law Nuclear Energy under Article 6.8 of the Paris Agreement ı Henrique Schneider
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