Climate-Related Opportunities and Risks

At Cameco, we recognize the critical nature of the fight against climate change, and want our workers, customers, investors and community partners near our operations to know we are fully committed to being an active and constructive partner in addressing this challenge. Cameco’s board and management understand that our responses to the changing dynamics of climate-related opportunities and risks are central to long-term sustainability and value for all of Cameco’s stakeholders.

Our full responses to the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) are detailed in our 2022 ESG Report.

Management's role in assessing and managing climate-related risks and opportunities

Our executives work with leaders and experts across the company to better understand and manage climate-related risks and opportunities. The chart to the right illustrates how climate-related information flows between groups with climate-related responsibilities across Cameco. Our climate governance includes:

  • Executives – Our executives provide strategic and operational leadership and take a proactive approach to managing risk across the company.
  • ESG steering committee – The focus of this committee is on disclosure of all environmental, social and governance topics, including climate.
  • Climate transition working group – The climate transition working group is an interdisciplinary group engaged in target setting, developing decarbonization strategies for our operations and value chain, preparing Cameco for the transition to a low-carbon economy, and proactively managing climate-related risks.
  • Climate change team – In 2022, we established an internal climate change team responsible for climate-related trend research, climate strategy and deliverable development, and performance reporting.

Climate-related risks

We identify and assess climate-related transition risks through our annual risk management, strategic planning, and annual market review processes, as well as through meetings of the climate transition working group. Risk management activities and mitigation plans, address the following:

Transition-Related Risks
Physical Risks

We have identified the most significant ways the transition to a low-carbon economy could potentially impact our company under the following topics:

  • GHG Regulation

  • Clean Energy Regulations

  • Clean Fuel Standard

  • Nuclear Excluded from Green Financing Schemes

  • Lack of Transparency on Climate Issues

To support business continuity and protect our assets, operations and workers, we consider physical risks resulting from climate change that are acute (event driven) or chronic (longer-term shifts in climate patterns) such as:

  • Wildfires

  • Increased Precipitation

  • Higher Temperatures

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Energy transition opportunities

As a nuclear fuel provider, we believe that increasing demand for clean electricity driven by transportation electrification and increasingly ambitious climate goals will bring significant opportunities for our company.

Cameco is well positioned to take advantage of the following opportunities:

Transition-Related Opportunities
Cameco's Advantage

Rising Demand for Electricity

As electrification of the world’s energy system continues, global demand for electricity is expected to increase by about 75% by 2050 from 2021 levels.

We expect our uranium mining and fuel services activities to continue to support the increasing demand for carbon-free baseload electricity in the years to come.

Cameco is a member of Electrifying Canada, a private sector-led initiative to create an actionable framework to electrify a large portion of the Canadian economy.

Increased Uptake of Net-Zero Goals

Many countries and companies recognize that to achieve the ambition of the Paris Agreement, net-zero emissions will need to be reached by 2050 or sooner. The United Nations Net Zero Coalition notes that in 2022, more than 70 countries and 3,000 businesses worldwide had committed to reaching net-zero emissions

We produce and supply uranium fuel, a low-carbon fuel for clean-air nuclear power generation. Cameco has been in the business of providing this critical fuel for over 30 years and is poised to be an important part of the solution as countries and companies work to meet their net-zero goals.

Uranium Considered an Important Mineral to Support the Energy Transition

In 2022, the Government of Canada published a Critical Minerals Strategy aimed at increasing the supply of responsibly sourced critical minerals, including uranium, and supporting the development of domestic and global value chains for the green and digital economy.

We are one of the largest global providers of uranium. If we took advantage of all tier-one expansion opportunities, our annual share of tier-one supply could be about 32 million pounds of uranium concentrates.

Support for Nuclear Energy as Part of the Energy Transition

We are seeing an increasing number of government and corporate announcements indicating growing support for nuclear energy, including:

  • Renewed Commitment to Nuclear Energy - Energy security concerns (arising from the recent energy crisis being experienced in some parts of the world and amplified by geopolitical uncertainty) have motivated recent announcements in support of nuclear energy.

  • Need for Life Extension of Aging Nuclear Reactors - As part of the energy transition, power producers and countries are considering life extensions for existing nuclear reactors. As power producers extend the operating lives of their reactors to 60 years, we expect to see increased demand for component updates and refurbishment services, in addition to increased demand for nuclear fuel.

  • Support for Small Nuclear Reactors - There is increasing support for small modular reactor (SMR) technology, especially in Canada with the release of plans, programs and funding specifically targeted at providing resources for the development of SMR technology.

  • Inclusion of Nuclear of Energy in Green Taxonomies - Inclusion of nuclear energy as part of some recently published green taxonomies demonstrates the rise in recent support for nuclear energy. One important example, in 2022, the European Parliament voted to keep nuclear power in the European Union’s sustainable finance taxonomy as a “transitional green investment,” which indicates that it will help mitigate climate change but cannot yet be replaced by economically and technologically feasible low-carbon alternatives.

Leveraging the assets and specialized skills of our fuel services division, we have been actively securing new contracts for reactor components to support the refurbishment of Canadian nuclear reactors.

To align with our contract portfolio and customer needs, we restarted production at our McArthur River mine and Key Lake mill aiming to produce 18 million pounds in 2024.

In 2022, we formed a strategic partnership with Brookfield Renewable Partners to acquire Westinghouse Electric Company, a global provider of specialized technologies, products and services across most phases of the nuclear power sector. The pending acquisition, if finalized, is expected to allow us to further participate in and support the growing momentum for nuclear energy.

We are well positioned to provide fuel for SMRs. The size of the market opportunity will depend on which specific SMR designs achieve commercialization, how many units are deployed, and other factors.

We continue to monitor developments in SMR technology and engage directly. For example, we have MOUs in place with several companies to explore areas of cooperation to advance the commercialization and deployment of SMRs.

We participate directly and through industry associations to support the development and deployment of SMR technology in Saskatchewan and around the world.

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Growing momentum for nuclear energy Transition scenarios