COP31 presses electrification plan as UN warns climate crisis is accelerating

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COP31 electrification and climate

Highlights

COP31 in Antalya focuses on accelerating electrification as negotiators aim to boost electricity's global energy share to 35% by 2035 from just over 20%.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warns at the summit that the international climate response remains too slow as the world is set to breach the 1.5°C warming target.
Fossil fuel dependence and recent Middle East oil disruptions drive petroleum prices higher, with Guterres highlighting that three-quarters of humanity are exposed to uncontrollable price shocks.

UN warning sets tone for Antalya talks

As reported by BusinessWorld Online, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tells leaders at the COP31 summit in Antalya that the climate crisis is "outrunning us" and that the world remains on a destructive path because the international response has been too slow.

He says governments must fight harder to protect future generations, citing rising emissions, higher global temperatures and worsening climate-linked disasters. Guterres also argues that science does not call for surrender, but for faster action to speed the transition to cleaner energy sources.

The summit, which opens on Monday on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, unfolds as a UN report published last month finds the world is on course to exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius warming limit set under the Paris Agreement. This year has also brought extreme heat waves across Western Europe and a glacier collapse in Nepal that triggers a catastrophic flood, killing more than 1,450 people, with thousands still missing.

Former French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius, who led the 2015 Paris climate conference and now heads an advisory council of former COP presidents, says leaders' speeches should give political momentum to the negotiations. Wednesday's speakers are expected to include Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng and Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine.

Electrification target faces scrutiny

Negotiators are seeking agreement on a plan to increase electricity's share in global energy use to 35% by 2035, up from a little over one-fifth now, in an effort to cut emissions from transport, industry and buildings. Turkey, as COP31 host, is pushing to place electrification at the center of the final deal, although critics say the measure on its own may do little to slow warming.

The proposal does not require new electricity generation to come from clean sources, and governments have yet to clarify how a broader transition away from coal, oil and gas would be implemented. Guterres says dependence on fossil fuels is also hurting economies, pointing to price shocks that many importing countries cannot control.

He links that risk to recent conflict in the Middle East, where disruption to oil exports after the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran has driven petroleum prices higher. "Three-quarters of humanity live in countries that import fossil fuels, hostage to price shocks they did not create and cannot control," he says.

Attendance at the summit also highlights political divides over climate leadership. The United States has skipped the talks for a second straight year after President Donald J. Trump withdrew the U.S. from climate cooperation following his return to office in 2025, while France, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada also do not send their top leaders.

As we previously wrote, soaring oil tanker rates were lifting fuel and consumer costs as conflicts disrupted key shipping routes.

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