Women in Nuclear has leant its support to a civil society campaign for nuclear energy to be recognised as a low-carbon option for fighting climate change.

A two-year initiative announced by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and the Partnership for Global Security (PGS) aims to encourage international policy experts to work together to find ways to address climate change, nuclear energy and global security challenges.

The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) has welcomed the positive changes on new nuclear power plants contained in the final Clean Power Plan rule issued this week by the US Environmental Protection Agency, but said it is a "missed opportunity" on existing reactors.

US president Barack Obama's newly revealed plan to reduce carbon emissions from power plants misses an opportunity by failing to recognize the carbon-abatement value of existing nuclear units, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI).

France's National Assembly yesterday gave final approval of the country's energy transition bill. Under the legislation, France's reliance on nuclear energy will be reduced to 50% of power generation by 2025.

Two further nuclear power reactors are to be constructed and plans for four coal-fired plants have been dropped in the latest 15-year basic energy plan released by the South Korean government today.

Nuclear power generation will play a role in helping Japan meet its post-2020 greenhouse gas emissions targets. The country has announced its intended contribution towards a possible global climate agreement later this year.

A new study by economists at the Brattle Group has found that the nuclear industry contributes $60 billion per year to the USA's gross domestic product (GDP) in addition to limiting carbon emissions and other economic and societal benefits.

Austria's Constitutional Service of the Federal Chancellery today filed a lawsuit with the European Court against the European Commission's approval of state aid for the planned Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in the UK.

Germany's coalition government parties have agreed on measures to enable the country to meet its 2020 carbon emission targets while transitioning to renewable energy sources. As part of the deal, some coal-fuelled power plants will be shut down with others kept in reserve in case of energy shortages.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said today that a peak in global energy-related emissions could be achieved as early as 2020 and at no net economic cost, as one of four "key pillars" it believes are needed "to make the upcoming UN climate talks a success, from an energy perspective". Those talks - the 21st UN Conference of the Parties (COP21) – take place in Paris in December.

The leaders of the G7 group of industrialised nations have expressed their support for reaching a global climate agreement later this year, saying that a decarbonization of the global economy by 2100 is needed to achieve climate change targets.