The World Bank's board has voted to end a longstanding ban on funding for nuclear energy projects, potentially opening the door for several African countries to receive loans from the development lender.
Ajay Banga, the bank's president, had been pushing the change since taking office in 2023 as part of his efforts to make ending energy poverty the key priority for the multilateral institution. The World Bank has overwhelmingly focused on financing solar and wind energy in recent years, along with other forms of renewable power.
"I think it's an overdue move, but I'm glad that it's happened," says Todd Moss, executive director of the non-profit Energy for Growth Hub. "There's really no logical reason to take a technology off the table before it can even be considered."
The World Bank's ban on funding nuclear energy was originally introduced in 2013, shortly after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, which led many developed countries to scale back their use of nuclear power. Japan itself closed all its reactors after Fukushima, but has since brought several back into use, after realising that ditching nuclear left the country dangerously dependent on imported fossil fuels.
Despite continued concerns over the massive cost and lengthy timelines for building nuclear power stations, interest in harnessing nuclear energy is growing both in developed markets and in many fast-growing middle-income countries.