On Wednesday, the Italian Economic Development ministry announced that the Council of Ministries approved a decree that will bring back nuclear generation in the country, after a referendum on the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident had led to the closing down of existing nuclear facilities in the 1980s. The decree allows to select sites and start constructing the new plants by 2013, which could then be running starting from 2020. Despite the claim that nuclear power is crucial in helping Italy achieve its 6.5 percent below 1990 levels target under the Kyoto Protocol, the Italian government is under the process of approving the opening of new coal-fired plants, which, according to Italian environmental group Legambiente, could lead to the emissions of 39 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

Climate Polcy News

• This news is extracted from the Climate Policy News : a CMCC weekly column that summarises the latest news on international climate change agreements, the updates on the carbon market and the energy and technology updates in the realm of climate change. Go to the web page and see all previous issues since March 2007.
• This week: EU Summit: no time for climate issues; Italy moves on on nuclear shift; New details on French carbon tax; US-China clean-energy venture; New UN body for climate financing; the carbon market  – Download the February 8-14, 2010 Newsletter [pdf 111 Kb]