What if the world had invested in nuclear power instead of variable renewable energy sources?

After investing about 11.6 trillion USD over the last 20 years, the global greenhouse gas emissions from using fossil electricity, heat and fuels are reduced by only 10.2% where only 5.2% is due to variable renewable energy sources. The result is that the energy transition will take over 190 years with investments exceeding 70 trillion USD, excluding population growth. Thus, a new approach is needed. The study indicates that nuclear power would have given 5.9% emission reductions and sufficient heat to decarbonize by another 5.5% through greening the earth – in total 11.3%, or 16.3% when including actual improvements in fossil- and hydro-electric power. The energy transition would take less than 90 years with investments of 28 trillion USD while almost doubling the agricultural land and afforesting another 10 million km2 of land. Interestingly, turning carbon dioxide into an asset is a major missed opportunity in current climate policies.

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Publication Details

Journal
International Journal of Sustainable Energy
Published
2025-11-23
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/14786451.2025.2586924
Primary Topic
Global Energy and Sustainability Research
Type
article
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article

What if the world had invested in nuclear power instead of variable renewable energy sources?

Jan Emblemsvåg
International Journal of Sustainable Energy
Global Energy and Sustainability Research
article

What if the world had invested in nuclear power instead of variable renewable energy sources?

Jan Emblemsvåg
article en

Abstract

After investing about 11.6 trillion USD over the last 20 years, the global greenhouse gas emissions from using fossil electricity, heat and fuels are reduced by only 10.2% where only 5.2% is due to variable renewable energy sources. The result is that the energy transition will take over 190 years with investments exceeding 70 trillion USD, excluding population growth. Thus, a new approach is needed. The study indicates that nuclear power would have given 5.9% emission reductions and sufficient heat to decarbonize by another 5.5% through greening the earth – in total 11.3%, or 16.3% when including actual improvements in fossil- and hydro-electric power. The energy transition would take less than 90 years with investments of 28 trillion USD while almost doubling the agricultural land and afforesting another 10 million km2 of land. Interestingly, turning carbon dioxide into an asset is a major missed opportunity in current climate policies.

International Journal of Sustainable EnergyVol. 44(1)
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO)
Openalex Percentile: Top 74%
Global Energy and Sustainability Research
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