A mantra emerges for this year’s climate COP: Electrify the world

 

A mantra emerges for this year’s climate COP: Electrify the world

 

Fears over the volatility of oil and gas supply is invigorating a global push to switch to clean electricity.

 

May 21, 2026 8:24 pm CET

By Zia Weise

https://www.politico.eu/article/mantra-cop31-electricity-climate/

 

COPENHAGEN — The Iran energy shock is poised to turn this year’s United Nations climate conference into a staging ground for a global electrification push.

 

Turkey and Australia, the countries organizing the COP31 summit in Antalya in November, told a preparatory meeting in Copenhagen this week that accelerating efforts to power cars, heat buildings and produce goods with clean electricity rather than fossil fuels will be at the heart of their conference.

 

“We consider electrification to be a priority,” said Murat Kurum, Turkey’s environment minister, who will serve as COP31 president.

 

Regarding the global energy transition, “the most important step we can take in this area is actually strengthening electrification,” he said at a press conference on Thursday following the two-day Copenhagen climate ministerial. “When we strengthen electrification, we will effectively ensure the transition away from fossil fuels — not just in theory, but in practice.”

 

His Australian counterpart Chris Bowen, who will run the formal negotiations in Antalya, told reporters that he had been "delighted with … the warm engagement on electrification."

 

He added: “We’ve met in difficult times, the biggest shock to the energy system in world history. There are no easy days in this crisis, but there are clear choices … the choice of new forms of energy — reliable, sovereign forms of renewable energy.”

 

Neither Kurum nor Bowen offered concrete details on how they plan to integrate electrification into this year’s conference, such as whether the pair will try to push for a global agreement on an electrification target.

 

Should they go in this direction, the International Renewable Energy Agency, whose director Francesco La Camera also participated in the Copenhagen ministerial, offered a concrete recommendation.

 

The share of electricity in the overall global energy consumption must rise from around 20 percent now to 35 percent by 2035 and 50 percent by 2050 if the world wants to limit the rise in temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the lower bound of the Paris Agreement target, IRENA said in a new report presented to the Copenhagen attendees.

 

La Camera compared IRENA’s recommendation for a “global electrification target for 2035” to two worldwide goals enshrined in the COP28 deal in 2023, when countries pledged to triple renewable generation and double energy efficiency efforts by 2030.

 

Surprise push

The COP31 presidency’s decision to focus on electrification comes after Germany last month advocated for the issue to become a central theme at this year’s climate summit.

 

The strong rhetoric was broadly welcomed in Copenhagen, though it took many of the 40 countries in attendance by surprise, two officials said. They were granted anonymity as their governments did not authorize them to speak to the press.

 

“It came a little out of the blue,” one of the officials said.

 

Anne Rasmussen, the chief negotiator for the Alliance of Small Island States, said her 39-country bloc hadn’t yet discussed the subject, instead prioritizing other issues such as financial aid to prepare for climate disasters and defending climate science.

 

Electrification “is a good initiative, but we shouldn’t focus on that alone,” she said.

 

Climate campaigners, too, welcomed the Turkish-Australian initiative, while urging them to address a fossil fuel phase-out more directly.

 

“Accelerating electrification of the wider economy, including transport and heating, powered by renewables, is a critical step to help governments end their continued reliance on volatile fossil fuels,” said Claire Smith, a senior campaigner at nonprofit Beyond Fossil Fuels.

 

“But any global conversation on electrification and the clean energy transition at COP31 must also be accompanied by concrete plans for governments to transition away from fossil fuels,” she added. “Without that, the shift to a truly secure, affordable and sustainable energy system will remain untenable.”

 

The European Commission, which is expected to present an electrification target for the 27-country bloc next month, is likely on board with the Australian-Turkish push. According to a Commission readout, Bowen and EU energy chief Dan Jørgensen on Wednesday “agreed to work together on a new global initiative on electrification.”