Amazon, Google and Meta signed a pledge this week that supports at least tripling nuclear power worldwide by 2050.
The Large Energy Users Pledge — backed by the World Nuclear Association as well as industrial giants like Dow, Occidental, Alleseas, and OSGE — is non-binding. But it demonstrates widespread support for expanding nuclear power after years of pushback from environmental groups.
The tech giants remain some of the largest energy drivers in the United States as they expand power-hungry data centers to support AI development.
According to the pledge, the companies recognize that “nuclear energy can provide round the clock energy independently of the weather, the season or the geographical location.”
The companies are currently attending the annual CERAWeek conference hosted by S&P Global in Houston. Over 10,000 participants and 80 countries convene to attend panels and discuss “challenges ahead for energy security, supply, and climate ambitions,” according to the CERAWeek website.
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The tech giants made steps towards nuclear energy back in October, focusing on small modular reactors that can be used to generate energy and heat, according to the New York Times.
Former US President Joe Biden saw nuclear power as a critical aspect in reducing greenhouse emissions and signed a law, passed by a bipartisan majority in Congress in February 2024, intending to speed up nuclear powerplant developments.
During the World Climate Action Summit in 2023, the US and 20 other countries signed the initial pledge to triple nuclear energy, but this pledge now includes non-governmental actors.
The pledge cites as its last point to “call on other large energy user companies to join this pledge.”