The United Nations has urged governments to accelerate the shift from fossil fuels to electricity, warning that dependence on imported fuels is exposing economies to rising costs, supply disruptions and inflation, as the COP31 climate summit pushes to raise global electrification to 35 per cent by 2035.
The United Nations Climate Change Executive Secretary, Simon Stiell, said countries must choose between embracing electricity powered by clean energy and continuing to expose households, businesses and national budgets to the volatility of fossil fuel markets.
Speaking at a press conference at the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference in Antalya, Türkiye, on Tuesday, Stiell said the global energy crisis had made the transition to electricity more urgent.
“Nations now face a choice: electric or shock. Rewire the global economy for the electricity age. Or accept ongoing fossil fuel cost pain for families, firms, and national budgets,” he said.
The electrification drive is a major focus of COP31’s Energy and Transport Day, with the Turkish presidency promoting a global pledge to increase electricity’s share of final energy consumption from about 23 per cent currently to 35 per cent by 2035.
Stiell said the transition was becoming more economically attractive, noting that renewable energy had become cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives in most large-scale projects.
“Because clean energy is cheap energy. 90 per cent of large renewable projects are now cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives, according to IRENA,” he said.
He added that renewables had overtaken coal in global electricity generation, while existing technologies could already electrify up to 75 per cent of energy demand.
“Up to 75 per cent of energy demand can already be electrified with existing technologies. We need to roll out those solutions faster, to far more communities in more countries. As we continue expanding access to electricity,” Stiell said.
He, however, warned that the transition remained uneven, with developing countries requiring greater financial and technical support to benefit from cheaper clean energy.
The COP31 President of Negotiations, Murat Kurum, said the global energy crisis had exposed the risks of dependence on imported fuels, particularly for countries vulnerable to international price fluctuations and supply disruptions.
He disclosed that fuel-importing countries incurred about `$330bn in additional costs between March and August, underscoring the economic consequences of reliance on imported energy.
Kurum said the 35-by-35 Global Electrification Pledge was intended to reduce that vulnerability by expanding electricity use in transport, buildings and industries.
“Our goal is to raise that share to 35 per cent by 2035,” he said, referring to electricity’s current 23 per cent share of global final energy consumption.
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He said Türkiye was also working towards energy independence through electrification and planned to support the target with practical measures during the conference.
Kurum said the summit must deliver measurable outcomes rather than make declarations without implementation.
“We want this to be an implementation COP. We want to get results. We are firmly demonstrating our commitment to that, and we will continue to do so,” he said.
He also warned that climate change was compounding other global crises, citing the strong El Niño phenomenon and the World Food Programme’s warning that it could push about 50 million more people into acute hunger.
Kurum insisted that countries must not abandon the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree Celsius temperature goal, warning that even a temporary overshoot could cause irreversible damage.
The COP31 President of Negotiations, Chris Bowen, said the electrification target was ambitious because it would require more than a fourfold increase in the current rate of global progress.
He said global electrification had risen from 17 per cent in 2005 to 19 per cent in 2015 and 23 per cent currently, while the annual improvement had averaged only 0.3 percentage points.
“The world has no chance of holding to 1.5 degrees unless we lift that to 35 per cent. That would require more than a four-fold increase in the rate of electrification around the world,” Bowen said.
He added that the climate crisis was unfolding alongside rising living costs, energy market instability and growing electricity demand from artificial intelligence.
Bowen said the world was experiencing the worst energy crisis in history, with fossil fuel costs rising while supply reliability declined, placing additional pressure on households.
He argued that international cooperation remained essential to addressing the overlapping crises.
“Countries working together is not only the best way, it is the only way, the only way, of dealing with climate change and the other crises countries are facing,” he said.
Stiell said 180 companies with combined revenues of nearly $1.7tn had called on the summit to seize the opportunities offered by electrification, urging governments, businesses and cities to support the initiative.
He acknowledged that the transition would require sustained effort, but said COP31 offered an opportunity to move from climate commitments to practical implementation.
