Canada to boost nuclear power to help meet climate target

Canada, the second largest producer of uranium, will boost its reliance on nuclear energy to reduce its carbon footprint and will encourage other nations to do the same, public broadcaster CBC said Thursday.

The move would mark a change in the climate strategy Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government unveiled just last December, which did not mention nuclear energy.

In May, Canada is expected to promote nuclear energy at a forum in Denmark, seizing the opportunity to "place nuclear energy at the center of global efforts to fight climate change," Natural Resources Parliamentary Secretary Kim Rudd said in a speech quoted by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

"The CEM (Clean Energy Ministerial) meets again in Copenhagen in May and we have ensured that nuclear energy has its place as part of a broad and high-level discussion on a global transition to a low-carbon economy," she said.

The Canadian department of natural resources was not immediately available for comment.

Although nuclear energy does not emit greenhouse gases like the fossil fuels that cause global warming, it is controversial because of the toxic waste produced.