ANKARA, June 27 — Turkey, the host nation for the upcoming COP31 climate summit, is urging countries around the world to commit to a major electrification push. The goal, as laid out by Turkey’s environment minister, is to have electricity meet a full third of global energy needs within the next decade. Murat Kurum, who will co-preside over the COP31 talks alongside Australian representatives, made the case that electrifying all sectors of the economy is the path to a low-carbon future.
He called for a concrete target: raise the share of electricity in meeting total energy demand from about one-fifth today to 35% by 2035. Think of it like this.
Right now, our global energy diet is heavily weighted toward burning things — oil, gas, coal — for transport, heating, and heavy industry. Kurum’s plan is essentially a recipe to shift a much bigger portion of that load onto the electrical grid, which is increasingly powered by cleaner sources. The timing is notable.
Turkey is putting this proposal forward as the designated host of COP31, giving it a powerful platform to set the agenda. The practical upshot of hitting that 35% target would be a significant dent in greenhouse gas emissions and a meaningful reduction in the world’s reliance on fossil fuels.
Where the power comes from
Here’s what’s already happening. The proportion of global electricity that is generated using renewable energy has been ticking up steadily and now sits at around one-third. That’s the good news.
The stubborn problem remains the so-called hard-to-abate sectors. Transport, heating, and heavy industry still lean heavily on oil, gas, and coal — roughly 80% of their energy comes from those sources.
That’s the gap Kurum is trying to close. In plain terms, the minister is asking countries to do two things at once: clean up the electricity that’s already being generated, and then plug more of the economy — cars, furnaces, factory equipment — into that cleaner grid. Kurum stressed that this shift isn’t just about climate goals.
Electrifying transport and heating, for instance, can also improve local air quality and reduce a country’s exposure to volatile global fuel markets. There’s an energy-security angle here that resonates well beyond the conference hall.
So what does this mean for an ordinary person? It suggests that over the next decade, the push to swap out gas-burning cars for electric ones, or oil furnaces for heat pumps, is likely to accelerate — not just as a consumer choice, but as a matter of national policy endorsed at the highest level of international diplomacy. Turkey’s proposal lands at a moment when the global energy conversation is already shifting.
The steady growth of renewables has made electrification a more credible pathway than it was even a few years ago. Kurum is essentially betting that the technology and economics are now ready for a rapid scale-up. The COP31 summit, which Turkey will host alongside Australia, will be the next big test of whether this vision gains traction.
For now, the minister has thrown down a marker: meet a third of your energy needs with electricity by 2035, or risk falling behind in the global green transition.
