The IEA is hoping that countries at the next UN Cop 31 climate summit will agree on an electrification target put forward by Turkey, which will host the talks in November in Antalya. But ministers from developing countries warned at the Cop 31-IEA high-level dialogue today in London that global electrification needs increased access to finance and technologies for developing countries.
Turkey has proposed a global goal for electricity to reach 35pc of global final energy consumption by 2035, up from around 20pc at present during the Bonn climate talks earlier this month.
IEA executive director Fatih Birol said that this target is achievable and welcomed that Turkey and Australia put it as a "flagship priority". The main goal of high-level dialogues is to foster consensus on key topics in order to facilitate decisions at later meetings, such as climate summits, he said. "I very much hope that in Antalya all the countries come together and agree" on the electrification target, he said. "It would be a "major legacy for Cop 31".
Cop 31 president-designate Murat Kurum told the Cop 31-IEA dialogue held during London Climate week today that the electrification target was more than "technical". "We cannot consider electrification separately from finance, finance separately from the right to development," he said. He called for a special report from the IEA to help countries and serve as a "traceable roadmap".
He also warned that the energy transition "must not allow electrification to become a race reserved for countries with access to technology". An energy transition not supported by financial justice would lead to more development inequality, he said, after Birol acknowledged that the target would be easier to achieve for European countries than for African nations. Australian energy minister, and future Cop 31 president of negotiations, Chris Bowen called for removing barriers to finance for developing economies.
Finance for implementation
The electrification target can help close the implementation gap by focusing on delivery rather than creating new commitments, but the gap in developing countries remains "closely linked to financial constraints", Ethiopia foreign minister and Cop 32 president-designate Gedion Timothewos said, pointing to high borrowing costs in markets perceived as "high-risk". These barriers need to be addressed, including under the official Cop process, he added.
For Colombian environment minister Irene Velez Torres, accelerating green energy sources is urgent but not sufficient. "The phase out of fossil fuels needs to be addressed," she said.
Turkey's proposed Cop 31 electrification target as well as an upcoming global roadmap on the transition away from fossil fuels led by the Cop 30 Brazilian presidency sit under the so-called Action Agenda — a parallel process from official Cop negotiations to help accelerate implementation. Some countries stressed during the Bonn talks that these processes need to remain separated.
Civil society organisations have also warned that the devil is in the detail when it comes to electrification. Increasing electricity consumption can be met by fossil as well as non-fossil sources.
The Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA) — a coalition of countries aiming to cut coal use — recommended today that governments bring electrification, clean build-out and coal transition scenarios together and the global transitioning away from fossil fuels roadmap should address "coal lock-in". "The impact of electrification will depend on the energy that powers it," French climate ambassador Benoit Faraco said today, adding that the PPCA recommendations highlight what developing countries can gain by choosing clean energy — including lower long-run energy costs and greater energy security.
