The United Nations is calling on governments to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to electricity, warning that dependence on imported fuels is exposing economies to rising costs, supply disruptions and inflation. At the COP31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkey, the UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said countries must choose between embracing electricity powered by clean energy or continuing to expose households, businesses and national budgets to the volatility of fossil fuel markets. "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," Stiell said at a press conference on Tuesday.
The centrepiece of COP31's Energy and Transport Day is a global pledge to increase electricity's share of final energy consumption from about 23 per cent currently to 35 per cent by 2035. 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. Fuel-importing countries incurred about $330bn in additional costs between March and August, he disclosed, underscoring the economic consequences of reliance on imported energy. The electrification pledge is intended to reduce that vulnerability by expanding electricity use in transport, buildings and industries.
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. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), 90 per cent of large renewable projects are now cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives, he said. Renewables have overtaken coal in global electricity generation, and existing technologies could already electrify up to 75 per cent of energy demand, Stiell added. However, he warned that the transition remained uneven, with developing countries requiring greater financial and technical support to benefit from cheaper clean energy.
The electrification target is ambitious because it would require more than a fourfold increase in the current rate of global progress, according to COP31 President of Negotiations Chris Bowen. 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," Bowen said, referring to the Paris Agreement's temperature goal.
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. COP31 President Kurum said the summit must deliver measurable outcomes rather than make declarations without implementation, calling it an "implementation COP" focused on getting results. He also warned that climate change was compounding other global crises, citing the strong El Niño phenomenon and warnings that it could push about 50 million more people into acute hunger.