Leaders from the US, Canada, France, Japan and the UK – a group of G7 nations informally known as the Sapporo 5 – have announced plans to mobilise $4.2bn (€3.9bn) in government-led investments to develop a secure, reliable global nuclear energy supply chain.

The investments will increase uranium enrichment and conversion capacity over the next three years and establish a resilient global uranium supply market free from Russian influence.

The announcement, made at a nuclear energy summit on the sidelines of the Cop28 climate conference in Dubai, follows last week’s pledge by 22 countries to triple nuclear energy capacity globally by 2050.

The US Department of Energy said in a statement that nuclear energy is key to achieving global net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and keeping the goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 °C within reach.