EU diplomats reach consensus to back COP31 electrification pledge

European Union diplomats reached consensus on November 10 to support a pledge at the COP31 U.N. climate conference to raise the global electrification rate, three diplomats told POLITICO. The diplomats, granted anonymity to discuss closed-door government talks, said the 27 member countries now back the voluntary goal proposed by the Turkish-Australian hosts of the summit in Antalya, Turkey.

The pledge would raise the share of electricity in global energy consumption to 35% by 2035, from around 20% currently. The bloc had been divided over whether to back the goal. Until Monday, a handful of EU countries were still reluctant, some because the pledge did not specify that the electricity used to meet the target must be clean rather than generated with fossil fuels, and some because they did not want to sign up to a new target before discussions over domestic EU energy policies are settled.

Consensus unblocks the process, but the EU's formal support for the pledge still needs to clear more bureaucratic steps before it becomes official. At COP31, countries pushing for increased climate action want electrification efforts tied to clean energy to make progress on phasing out polluting fossil fuels, while other governments prefer to leave the door open to meeting new electricity demand with coal and gas. The pledge's wording, as unveiled in September, did not include a reference to clean power.