Antinuclear

Friends of the Earth remind Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change that nuclear power is a false solution to climate change

Friends of the Earth Adelaide has sent the letter below to Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change and Energy, before a series of important meetings in the lead up to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP31). A special climate event will take place in Palau at the  Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting from tomorrow (30 August to 4 September). That is followed by pre-COP preparatory meetings in Fiji and Tuvalu (5-8 October). COP31 itself will take place from 9 to 20 November 2026 in Antalya, Türkiye.

I’m sure you all remember that Adelaide was vying to host COP31, but we missed out when Türkiye wouldn’t back down. The compromise was that Chris Bowen got to be President of Negotiations.

Hon Chris Bowen, MP
Minister for Climate Change and Energy
Dear Mr Bowen,
We imagine you are extremely busy preparing for important meetings in the lead up to the November
UN Climate Change Conference (COP31), beginning with a special climate event in Palau (30
August to 4 September), followed by pre-COP preparatory meetings in Fiji and Tuvalu (5-8 October).
We wish you every success in your role as President of Negotiations.

The impacts of climate change are becoming more and more serious. The northern hemisphere has
experienced unprecedented heat waves and catastrophic fires this summer, while Australia faces
dangerous weather conditions during the forthcoming southern hemisphere summer, which will fall
in the middle of a strong El Nino event.

In the course of COP31 negotiations, you will hear many proposals for mitigation of and adaptation
to climate change. Some proposals will represent sincere attempts to address the problems, while
others will offer false solutions designed to protect vested interests. For too long, vested interests have
been allowed to obstruct the world’s response to climate change. As a result, we are in the midst of a
climate crisis that is expected to get worse over the coming decades.

One false solution that is raised at every COP is nuclear energy. Wealthy lobby groups backed by
powerful political forces promote nuclear energy as the solution to global warming, but their
proposals are designed to perpetuate the use of fossil fuel. It is no coincidence that in Australia and
elsewhere the political parties that support nuclear energy are the same parties that consistently block
climate action.

The situation in Europe this summer demonstrates how inappropriate nuclear energy is for a warming
world. Nuclear reactors have been forced to shut down because of low flow in rivers from which they
extract cooling water, or because the water temperature in those rivers is too high. Coastal nuclear
power plants in France have been shut down by jelly fish which swarm in the warmer sea waters
clogging the cooling water intake filters. Sea level rise and severe weather caused by climate change
will lead to increasingly severe storm surges in coastal areas threatening nuclear power plants.

We urge you to remain faithful to the science. Call out those who seek to muddy the waters with
misinformation and disinformation. Support real solutions, not vested interests.

Yours sincerely,
Philip White 28 August 2026
Convenor
Friends of the Earth Adelaide

September 1, 2026 Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change - global warming | Leave a comment