Key facts
- The IEA said its September Electrification report found electricity could cost-effectively reach 33% of world final energy consumption by 2035, from 23%.
- The IEA said that would put the proposed 35% electrification target under discussion at COP31 within striking distance.
- The IEA said faster electrification could cut fuel-importing countries' combined energy import bills by more than $400 billion by 2035 versus 2025 levels.
- The IEA said faster electrification could mean the world uses 18 million fewer barrels of oil per day by 2035 than otherwise.
- Singapore's Grace Fu said on November 6 that energy security concerns from the US-Israeli war against Iran were a headwind for negotiators.
- Delegations from nearly 200 countries are attending the 12-day conference in Antalya.
The International Energy Agency said it will push for faster and wider electrification at COP31, which opened in Antalya, Turkey, on November 9, as policymakers gather during what the agency called an unprecedented global energy crisis. The agency said its analysis is informing the COP31 presidency's goals on electrification, zero waste and methane, energy efficiency and resilient cities, and energy access and clean cooking.
The IEA said Turkey's COP31 presidency is placing a strong emphasis on accelerating action across several energy priorities, including a 35-by-35 electrification ambition. Weeks before the summit, the Paris-based agency published a special Electrification report, requested by Turkey and Australia to inform COP31 discussions.
The report found that cost-effective technologies can bring the proposed 35% electrification target within striking distance, the IEA said in September. Based on technologies available today and energy prices at levels seen before the onset of the current supply shock, electricity could cost-effectively meet 33% of the world's final energy consumption by 2035, up from 23% at present, according to the report.
The IEA said energy prices at their current levels, amid the Strait of Hormuz crisis, would make even more of the world's energy consumption cost-effective to electrify. It said that if countries speed up electrification in light of this year's energy crisis and soaring fuel costs, fuel-importing countries could see their energy import bills drop by more than $400 billion combined by 2035 compared with 2025 levels.
The agency said faster electrification could mean the world is using 18 million fewer barrels of oil per day by 2035 than it would have done otherwise, mainly the result of a rapid uptake of electric vehicles in that scenario.
The opening followed a briefing in which Singapore's environment minister, Grace Fu, told reporters the talks were unlikely to deliver a major upgrade in mitigation targets and should focus on implementing what has already been agreed under the Paris Agreement, Reuters reported. Fu said negotiators face energy security concerns arising from the US-Israeli war against Iran, and that President Donald Trump's decision to pull the US out of the Paris pact still weighs on the process.
Delegations from nearly 200 countries are attending the 12-day conference, at which summit leaders urged faster action on global warming.