Turkiye pushes electrification top of climate agenda as COP31 set to open

The United Nations climate conference COP31 is set to open on Monday in Antalya, Turkiye, against the backdrop of the US-led war on Iran, which has underscored the world’s attachment to fossil fuels. Turkiye has said it would centre electrification on the COP31 agenda, launching the non-binding 35-by-35 Global Electrification Pledge, which aims to make electricity account for at least 35 percent of global energy demand by 2035.

Electricity currently accounts for about one-fifth of global total final energy consumption, according to the International Energy Agency. “This year’s energy crisis has shocked us… everyone now understands that energy that you import is energy that you do not control,” the COP31 president and Turkiye’s environment minister, Murat Kurum, said on Thursday.

The climate conference’s priority areas also include zero waste, methane reduction, climate-resilient cities, green industrialisation, education and implementation of national climate plans.