The world should aim to meet a third of its energy needs from electricity within a decade to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the host of the next UN climate summit has said. Murat Kurum, Turkey's environment minister, who will preside over the Cop31 summit this November with Australia, called for a target of 35% of final energy demand to be met from electricity by 2035, up from about 20% today.
Kurum said electrifying all sectors of the economy would help shift the world to a low-carbon future. 'By electrifying daily life, from transport to buildings and industry, we can protect families and businesses from volatile energy markets,' he said. The technology to electrify transport and heating is already well established, in the form of electric vehicles and heat pumps, but take-up has been patchy.
The Australian climate change minister, Chris Bowen, opening the conference with Kurum and the UN climate chief, Simon Stiell, said cutting fossil fuel dependence and investing in clean energy and electrification were solutions to both worsening climate-induced natural disasters and what he called 'the worst energy crisis in our history'. Bowen told the conference that the focus on electrifying the global economy had 'emerged with clarity' in early discussions.
Stiell told ministers and high-level officials meeting for preparatory talks that dealing with the climate crisis was 'the hardest, but most important, thing humanity has ever tried to do together'. He added: 'It is worth doing, because we have no choice. Every economy and population depends on it.' Scientists have warned of a possible 'super El Niño' this year, which would turbo-charge temperature rises and bring heatwaves and potentially droughts and flooding.
The right to host this year's Cop summit was fiercely contested between Turkey and Australia, with the unusual decision to grant a joint presidency taken last November. Australia will have charge of the formal negotiations under the Paris agreement, but the Turkish co-hosts will have a major say in running the event. The International Energy Agency will be asked to produce a report setting out how the 35% electrification target can be met by 2035.
Kurum also called for the growth rate of global waste to be halved by 2035. Turkey has made waste a focal point for Cop31, despite misgivings from some activists. Emine Erdoğan, the wife of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has a longstanding interest in the issue, having set up a national initiative to cut waste in 2017.
