COP31 Launches 35-by-35 Electrification Pledge in Turkey

Cars burn petrol, gas heats buildings, and industrial processes burn coal and gas. Currently, only 23% of global final energy demand—the energy that reaches final users such as households or factories—comes from electricity.

At the UN climate summit COP31 in Turkey, the COP presidency launched a “35-by-35” electrification pledge. The presidency includes Australia’s Climate and Energy Minister Chris Bowen and Turkey’s Environment Minister Murat Kurum. They want other countries to sign on.

“The world has run out of time to limit global warming to 1.5°C without temporarily overshooting it.”

The pledge aims for 35% of global final energy use to come from electrification by 2035. Electrification means replacing direct fossil-fuel use across transport, buildings, and industry with electricity, increasingly from renewables.

The world has run out of time to limit warming to 1.5°C without temporarily overshooting it. Even with decisive emission cuts, temperatures are likely to exceed 1.5°C for at least a decade.

The best hope is for warming to peak around 1.7°C in the 2040s before returning to 1.5°C by 2100. This is known as “overshoot.” Returning to 1.5°C requires removing large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at a scale not yet possible.

Rapid emission reductions are crucial rather than relying on future technologies to undo damage. Electric technologies are more efficient than fossil-fuelled equivalents; electric cars convert more energy into movement than petrol cars, and heat pumps can deliver several units of heat per unit of electricity.