Sawt Falasteen - COP31 host unveils 'electrification' priority for climate talks

The November summit in Antalya is taking shape as the Middle East conflict roils global energy markets, exposing fossil fuel importers to price spikes and supply shortages.

Boosting electrification could help insulate economies from fossil fuel price shocks and was "one of the key priorities" for COP31, incoming summit president Murat Kurum told delegates in Bonn.

Thousands of climate negotiators are gathering in the German city this week and next to lay the groundwork for the final decisions to be taken by political leaders at the summit due to start November 9.

Turkey said raising the global share of energy demand met by electricity from around 20 percent to 35 percent by 2035 would speed up the shift from fossil fuels to renewable power.

Kurum said COP31 organisers would "work to build a strong global coalition for this goal" in the months ahead.

The target is voluntary and does not require the approval of the nearly 200 nations that take decisions by consensus during the hard-fought UN-sponsored climate summits.

Every year, countries are encouraged by COP hosts to support non-binding pledges on a parallel "action agenda" that is separate to the formal negotiations.

Australia, which is steering the formal negotiations in a COP31 co-hosting arrangement with Turkey, said electrification could cut emissions and shore up energy security.

"I see them as different sides of the same coin. Electrification reduces the need for fossil fuels," COP31 negotiations chief Chris Bowen, who is also Australia's climate and energy minister, told AFP in an interview in Bonn on Monday.

On Tuesday, Bowen said he would "take inspiration" from Turkey's action agenda -- which also includes initiatives to reduce planet-warming methane emissions from waste -- into the negotiations.

- 'Deep contradiction' -

In simple terms, electrification means replacing technologies that burn fossil fuels directly -- such as gas heating systems and diesel vehicles -- with electric alternatives.

But for electrification to drive down heat-trapping emissions and tackle climate change, the extra electricity must come primarily from clean sources like solar and wind.

"Electrification can only deliver meaningful climate benefits if the power comes from renewables, not fossil fuels," said Duygu Kutluay, a campaigner at Beyond Fossil Fuels.

Alden Meyer, a veteran COP observer and E3G analyst, said it was crucial to boost electrification and "squeeze fossil fuels out of the electricity system at the same time".

"If you electrify and you increase coal, then what are you doing?" he told AFP in Bonn.

The electrification target unveiled by Turkey did not explicitly state how that extra power should be produced.

Around one-third of the world's electricity is still produced using coal, one of the most polluting sources of energy.

But in 2025 the share of global electricity generated using renewables overtook coal for the first time in 100 years, according to energy think tank Ember.

Berkan Ozyer, director of Greenpeace Turkey, said the electrification push "was a vital and highly welcome step".

But it was a "deep contradiction" that Turkey was leading this charge while keeping "37 active coal power plants running and leaving the door open for new projects at home", Ozyer said.

V.Said--SF-PST