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, a halfway conference between UN Cop climate summits.
Turkey, which will host the upcoming Cop 31 climate summit in November, proposed the goal as part of its action agenda of voluntary initiatives aimed at accelerating the implementation of commitments taken at previous summits. Like during Cop 30 in Brazil, the action agenda will run alongside official UN negotiations.
The Cop host is proposing to build a global coalition to carry forward this goal, which is based on analysis from watchdogs the International Energy Agency (IEA) and International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena). President-designate of the summit, Murat Kurum, called it "one of the defining priorities of our Cop 31 presidency."
Reaching the goal would require a sharp increase in the rate of electrification from recent decades. Electricity would have to increase its share of final energy consumption by 1.2pc/yr, compared to 0.2pc/yr over 1990-23, according to IEA data (see graph).
The electrification goal has the advantage of being applicable worldwide, being equally valid for decarbonising industry in Germany or contributing to clean cooking in Africa, according to Cop 31 president of negotiations Chris Bowen of Australia.
The electrification pledge remains outside of negotiated Cop outcomes for now, but Australia has referred the action agenda to parties at the Cop, and it is something they could take momentum from, Bowen said. UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) executive secretary Simon Stiell said today that it is "for parties to decide" if it is brought into the negotiation process.
Achieving an electrification rate of 35pc by 2035, combined with energy efficiency improvements of around 3pc, calls for a global installed renewable power capacity of around 18,400 GW in the same period, according to Irena. The goal also needs to be complemented by grid enhancements, according to the organisation.
Increasing electricity consumption can be met by fossil as well as non-fossil sources. The world consumed 2.4 times as much fossil-origin electricity in 2023 as in 1990, although electricity generation from other sources increased 2.7 times in the same timespan.
