Murat Kurum and Chris Bowen

Australia and Turkey will be co-hosting the annual U.N. climate conference, known as COP31, in November this year. Turkey will serve as host nation, with its Minister of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, Murat Kurum, acting as COP31 president. Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Minister, Chris Bowen, will lead negotiations. Together they have laid out a clear agenda for the conference: to spotlight the urgent need to electrify economies. To this end, one major goal of the event will be for countries to set a target to reach 35% electrification by 2035. Electricity currently meets just 21% of global energy demand. The ambitious goal comes at a critical time: The U.N. recently warned that if the world hopes to limit warming to below 2° Celsius by the end of the century, emissions will need to be cut by 18% in the next three years, and by 45% by 2035.

Kurum answered TIME’s survey on the state of the climate movement:

What is the single most important action you think the public, or a specific company or government, needs to take in the next year to advance the climate agenda?

Murat Kurum: The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has opened a new window of opportunity for the energy transition. The single largest disruption in the history of modern energy markets demonstrated the inherent risks of depending on imported fuels. This has been the second energy crisis within five years, putting these vulnerabilities beyond reasonable doubt and changing the terms of the debate. As new technologies mature and cheapen, the answers to the needs for energy security, affordability and sustainability are now aligning like never before. As the COP31 Presidency, we are meeting this moment by pushing a simple solution: electrification.

This means accelerating the deployment of electric cars and motorbikes, heat pumps and cooking stoves, and industrial heaters and motors, all supported by expanded and upgraded infrastructure. We have already signaled our intent for electrification to frame the annual COP U.N. climate summit and launched the COP31 Global Electrification Pledge for everyone to endorse. The goal is to raise electricity’s share of global final energy consumption from around 23% to 35% by 2035. The International Energy Agency found that, if the world reaches this “35-by-35” target, fuel-importing countries could cut their annual import bills by more than $400 billion. The 35-by-35 Pledge will be a political focal point, raising the visibility of electrification on the international stage and setting a global benchmark. But we also want to build momentum with concrete action in the real economy. Governments should mainstream electrification targets into their national plans and invest accordingly. Companies should electrify their vehicle fleets, their buildings and their industrial processes. And households can also participate by switching to new energy efficient electric tech. COP31 will be known as when we sparked the electrification movement into life. The technology exists. The economics are getting stronger. The moment is right.