Powering up the world’s energy demand fuels next growth opportunity for Australian investors
Sydney, 27 October 2025 - VanEck will be listing the VanEck Uranium and Energy Innovation ETF (ASX: URAN) on 30 October 2025, providing targeted exposure to leading global companies across the uranium and nuclear energy value chain.
The rising demand for uranium comes as governments increasingly build nuclear energy into long-term infrastructure and decarbonisation plans. Global sentiment has shifted significantly, marked by the UN’s Climate Change Conference in December 2023 (COP28), where 25 countries committed to tripling nuclear capacity by 2050 (from 2020 levels). This was followed by the world’s first Nuclear Energy Summit, held by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in March 2024, where heads of state for 30+ countries backed a declaration recognising nuclear as essential for energy security and a credible clean-energy transition. These pledges mobilised a wave of energy policy reform worldwide, including Japan targeting ~20% of its energy consumption to be nuclear by 2040, the UK aiming for 25% by 2050, and the US aiming to triple capacity by 2050.
Beyond net zero, the surge in electricity demand from AI workloads, electrified transport and digital infrastructure has been recognised globally as a strategic constraint. The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects global electricity demand will be up ~75% by 2050, underscoring the need for reliable, always-on baseload. Major tech companies, including Amazon, Meta, Google and Microsoft, have been pouring billions of dollars into long-term power-purchase agreements and equity funding as a means of securing nuclear power supply for their data centres over the next few decades.
Arian Neiron, CEO and Managing Director, VanEck Asia Pacific, said:
“We are in the early phases of a global nuclear power renaissance. Major governments have committed to ramping up nuclear power capacity and utilisation, recognising the vital role it can play as part of a resilient, low-carbon energy mix.
“We anticipate a long runway for the nuclear ecosystem as more countries come on board, existing capacity expands, and new technologies such as small modular reactors provide safer and more efficient means of production. This is not a single-commodity story; we see this as a structural growth opportunity that spans the entire value chain, from the miners and reactor developers through to the enrichment plants and engineers. URAN is designed to give investors targeted, rules-based access to this high-growth segment, which is under-represented in most benchmarks,” said Neiron.
The launch of URAN brings VanEck’s total number of ETFs on ASX to 47 and extends on the business’ commitment to innovation and helping investors access the opportunities.
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