Bruce Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power station located on the eastern shore of Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada. On the date of 23 November 2021, it has made a relevant announcement, the issuance of $500 million bonds. The news is that this issuance will consist of green bonds, the first one emitted in the nuclear power sector.

Civilian nuclear power supplied 2,586 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2019, equivalent to about 10% of global electricity generation, and was the second-largest low-carbon power source after hydroelectricity. As it commonly knows, Bill Gates start deepening the climate change issue, and in the last book he gives for granted the use of nuclear electric power for the transition to net-zero carbon emission. He dedicates just a sentence, making a comparison with the smoke of cigarettes: everyone knows that smoking is harmful, in the same way, everyone knows that nuclear is the only way possible for net-zero emission, it is useless to spend more words on that.

I thought that he was a bit too optimistic, given that nuclear power covers only 10% of the supply for electricity and lots of States are currently against the improvement of new nuclear generating stations. But there is also good news. In fact, The Canadian nuclear generation station Bruce Power announced the issuance of $500 million in Green Bonds, which is a global first for nuclear power and a recognition of the critical role the technology plays in fighting climate change and enabling a Net Zero future.

“Clean nuclear power is crucial to fighting climate change, and today’s announcement marks another industry-leading step in the company’s environmental, social and governance strategy,” said Mike Rencheck, Bruce Power’s President and CEO. “One of the largest greenhouse gas emission reduction initiatives in the world was the phase-out of coal-fired electricity in Ontario, and Bruce Power was at the heart of making this a reality by providing 70 percent of the energy the province needed to achieve this goal.”

This achievement of the first nuclear Green Bond has been achieved thanks to Bruce Power’s track record of delivering emission reduction projects and its leadership in environmental stewardship, which includes coal phase-out, its commitment to be Net Zero by 2027 in support of a Net Zero Canada by 2050, and the launch of Bruce Power Net Zero Inc. “Ontario’s electricity system is 94 percent emission-free, thanks in large part to Bruce Power who produces a third of the provinces power,” said Hon. Todd Smith, Minister of Energy. “Bruce Power continues to show leadership in developing innovative solutions to support Ontario’s emission-reduction targets.”

Bruce Power is an industry leader in minimizing the environmental and ethical impacts of its business. In August 2021, the company received its second Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) Risk Rating by the third-party rating agency Sustainalytics. This ESG Risk Rating earned the company a spot in the Top 5 within its sub-industry globally. Hoping that this example will be followed by other companies in the sector, this will considerably accelerate the net-zero emission transition.