Growth in the world's population and economy, coupled with rapid urbanisation, will result in a substantial increase in energy demand over the coming years. The United Nations (UN) estimates that the world's population will grow from 7.6 billion in 2017 to 9.7 billion by 2050. The process of urbanisation – which currently adds a city the size of Shanghai to the world's urban population every four months or so – will result in approximately two-thirds of the world's people living in urban areas by 2050 (up from 55% in 2018). The challenge of meeting rapidly growing energy demand, whilst reducing harmful emissions of greenhouse gases, is considerable. In 2019 global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose to 33.3 Gt, the highest on record, and about 45% above the total in 2000 (23.2 Gt).Electricity demand growth has outpaced growth in final energy demand for many years. Increased electrification of end-uses – such as transport, space cooling, large appliances, ICT, and others – are key contributors to rising electricity demand. The number of people without access to electricity has fallen substantially, and is now below one billion. However, despite significant progress, over 11% of the world's population still lacks access, mostly in rural areas.Aside from the challenges of meeting increasing demand and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, cleaner air is a vital need. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution is the world's largest environmental risk. WHO estimates that about seven million people die prematurely as a result of air pollution. Much of the fine particulate matter in polluted areas arises from industrial sources such as power generation or from indoor air pollution which could be averted by electricity use.Studies have repeatedly shown that nuclear energy is a low-emitting source of electricity production in general. It is also specifically low-carbon; emitting among the lowest amount of carbon dioxide equivalent per unit of energy produced when considering total life-cycle emissions. It is the second largest source of low-carbon electricity production globally (after hydropower), and provided about 30% of all low-carbon electricity generated in 2018. Almost all reports on future energy supply from major organisations suggest an expanded role for nuclear power is required, alongside growth in other forms of low-carbon power generation, to create a sustainable future energy system.In June 2019 the OECD’s International Energy Agency (IEA) published a report, Nuclear Power in a Clean Energy System, which concluded that a failure to invest in existing and new nuclear plants in advanced economies would make global efforts to transition to a cleaner energy system drastically harder and more costly.
