Nuclear energy must be acknowledged as a reliable, scalable, safe and highly affordable low-carbon source of energy and must be treated that way when it comes to investment incentives, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has said.

The WEF, a Switzerland-based thinktank, said the world must “embrace nuclear energy” in the fight against climate change, but added it needs private investment, even in markets where governments still take on much of the financing.

“Governments need to shoulder the risk of the high capital costs at the start,” the WEF said. “But that alone is not enough. They need to attract private financing through assured revenues and an enabling investment environment over the longer term.”