Turkey, which will host the COP31 climate summit in Antalya in November, on Tuesday urged countries to join a voluntary initiative aimed at making electricity account for 35 percent of global energy demand by 2035.
The target, unveiled during UN climate talks in Bonn, is intended to speed the shift from fossil fuels to cleaner power sources and help shield economies from energy price shocks, Turkish conference organizers said.
The proposal does not require formal approval by the nearly 200 countries involved in the UN climate process because it is part of the summit’s non-binding “action agenda,” which runs alongside the official negotiations.
Thousands of climate negotiators are in Bonn this week and next to draft agreements and lay the groundwork for final decisions to be taken by political leaders at the summit, which is due to begin on November 9.
Turkey said raising the global share of energy demand met by electricity from roughly 20 percent to 35 percent by 2035 would accelerate the move away from fossil fuels and toward renewable power.
“By electrifying daily life, from transport to buildings and industry, we can protect families and businesses from volatile energy markets,” incoming COP31 president Murat Kurum said in a statement.
The November summit is taking shape as the Middle East conflict roils global energy markets, exposing fossil fuel importers to price spikes and supply shortages.
The action agenda encourages countries to join non-binding pledges and other initiatives designed to turn commitments made at UN-sponsored climate talks into action on the ground.
Clean switch
Electrification means replacing technologies that burn fossil fuels directly, such as gas heating systems and diesel vehicles, with electric alternatives.
But analysts say electrification will only reduce planet-warming emissions if the additional electricity comes mainly from renewable sources rather than coal, oil or gas.
“If you electrify and you increase coal, then what are you doing?” Alden Meyer, a veteran COP observer and analyst at E3G, told Agence France-Presse in Bonn. “You do need to both expand electrification and squeeze fossil fuels out of the electricity system at the same time.”
The electrification target unveiled by Turkey did not explicitly state how the additional power should be produced.
In 2025 renewables reached 34 percent of global electricity generation, overtaking coal’s 33 percent share for the first time in 100 years, according to energy think tank Ember.
Australia, which is steering the formal negotiations under a COP31 co-hosting arrangement with Turkey, said electrification could cut emissions and strengthen energy security.
“I see them as different sides of the same coin. Electrification reduces the need for fossil fuels,” Chris Bowen, Australia’s climate and energy minister and COP31 negotiations chief, told AFP in an interview in Bonn on Monday.
© Agence France-Presse