While the United Nations (UN) climate negotiations COP31, which will be hosted by Türkiye, aims to adopt a commitment to increase the share of electricity in global energy consumption to 35 percent by 2035, according to experts, simultaneous and large-scale transformation is required in all sectors of the economy to achieve this goal in electrification.
Türkiye will host the 31st Conference of the Parties (COP31) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is held every year to accelerate efforts in the fight against climate change, on 9-20 November this year. In addition to hosting the summit to be held in Antalya, Türkiye also assumes the Presidency of COP31. Australia will chair the negotiations.
The focus of COP31, which will be held with the goal of "COP of the Future - Implementation COP", will be the transformation of climate commitments into concrete and measurable practices.
In addition, it is aimed to reach an international commitment towards the target of increasing the global electrification rate from the current level of 22 percent to 35 percent by 2035, announced by Türkiye within the scope of the COP31 Presidency.
Electrification means meeting the majority of energy needs with electricity and replacing fossil fuel use with electricity-based transportation, heating, cooling, cooking and industrial processes.
According to the information compiled by the AA correspondent from the data of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the energy think tank Ember, the electrification rate in the world reached 21.6 percent as of the end of 2024, for which the most up-to-date data is available.
This rate varies widely across sectors, countries and regions.
The electrification rate in Türkiye is calculated as 21.5 percent by 2024, at the same level as the global average.
Considering their economic size, China is one of the countries with the highest electrification rates in the world, with approximately 30 percent. Electrification is at 30.6 percent in Japan, 22 percent in the United States, 20.8 percent in Germany and about 19 percent in India.
The electrification rate is 49 percent in Norway, where electric vehicles are more common in transportation, and 33 percent in Sweden.
In Africa and many Middle Eastern countries, electrification remains at a very low level.
Energy security, economy and climate advantage
According to the IEA's Special Report on Electrification, commercially accessible technologies that can be used to convert final energy use in transport, buildings and industry into electricity are rapidly expanding in many regions.
These technologies, which are cost-effective for increasing the share of electricity in global energy consumption to 35 percent, show that it is possible to achieve the "35 percent by 2035" electrification target.
According to experts, the target of "35 percent electrification by 2035" is seen as an ambitious but achievable target. Simultaneous and comprehensive investments in all sectors globally need to be greatly accelerated in order to increase electrification, which is of critical importance in terms of energy security and economy, as well as in the fight against climate change.
In his evaluation to the AA correspondent, Dave Jones, Chief Analyst of the international energy think tank Ember, stated that electrification provides an economic advantage when carried out correctly, and according to the IEA, if this target is achieved by 2035, the fossil fuel import bill of energy importing countries could decrease by 400 billion dollars annually.
Explaining that this goal has a very important dimension for consumers, but is not limited to this, Jones said, "The acceleration of electrification is also important for energy security. Today, we see that high oil and natural gas prices cause instability in national economies and deepen the cost of living crisis." he said.
From the perspective of combating climate change, Jones continued by stating that even if not all of the electricity used is produced from renewable sources, carbon emissions will be reduced by accelerating electrification.
"Electrification can be thought of as countries making the leap to cheaper and better energy than they had before. Increasing the electrification rate to 35 percent is an ambitious but possible goal. If we can reach 35 percent, it will be a truly remarkable achievement. Currently, technologies are more advanced than ever before. For example, people refer to China as the world's first 'electro-state'. The electrification rate in China today stands at 29 percent. This rate is It was 24 percent in 2014. China started this transformation 10 years ago, but the scope of what can be done today is much broader than 10 years ago. Technologies have advanced significantly and these developments now enable applications that were not possible before.
Pointing out that there is a new opportunity for countries with very low electrification levels today, such as countries in Africa, Jones explained that thanks to solar energy and battery technologies, electricity has become cheaper, more accessible and faster to be put into use than ever before.
Stating that electrification offers a great opportunity for African countries, not only in terms of climate but also directly economically, Jones said, "When we look at how electrification has increased, we see that this rate has not increased much in Europe and the USA in the last 10 years. The region where the increase occurred was Asia. An increase was also seen in developed Asian economies such as Japan and South Korea, but there was a significant increase especially in developing Asian countries, which are not limited to China." he said.
Stating that there has been rapid progress in electrification in the last 10 years throughout Southeast Asia, especially in India and especially Vietnam, Jones emphasized that the increase in electrification supports economic growth and improvement in living standards.
Jones underlined that it is important to reach a global commitment to electrification within the scope of COP31, but turning the commitments into practice and countries creating action plans for electrification will be decisive in combating climate change.
Annual investments need to be multiplied
IEA Energy Analyst Alex Martinos shared the information that if the share of electricity in final energy consumption is increased to 35 percent, the increase in electricity demand will be twice the increase rate recorded in the last 10 years.
Stating that it is of great importance from which generation sources this high increase in demand will be met, Martinos said that the share of electricity produced from low-emission sources has increased from 33 percent to 42 percent in the last 10 years and that approximately 70 percent of the increase in global electricity consumption in this period was met by these sources.
Martinos stated that the acceleration of electrification requires additional investment in sectors aimed at final energy consumption, such as networks, energy storage, electric vehicles and heat pumps, as well as electricity production from low-emission sources, and continued:
"Today, approximately 320 billion dollars are invested every year for electrification in industry, transportation and buildings. In order for the electrification rate to reach 35 percent by 2035, this investment must increase to approximately 1 trillion dollars. The largest part of these investments consists of the transportation sector through the purchase of electric vehicles. In a scenario in which electrification reaches 35 percent and is compatible with the target of net zero emissions in electricity by 2050, annual expenditures on the electricity system are today "It rises from 1.5 trillion dollars to approximately 2.5 trillion dollars by 2035. Most of this investment increase is directed to low-emission electricity production, energy storage and electricity grids."
Martinos added that the greatest potential in accelerating electrification is seen in the transportation sector.
