Global Electrification: clearing a pathway through COP31

In the past six months, clean electrification has become both a domestic priority and an international rallying call. On the international stage, the issue of dependency on fossil fuels was raised by President Lula at the beginning of COP30 in Belém, which led to a COP presidency initiative on a global roadmap to transition away from fossil fuels, with electrification as a major lever. Three months later, the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz exposed the global economy for the second time (after Ukraine) in 5 years to the severe risks of dependence on fossil fuel supplies. 

Soaring energy prices drove up inflation and caused many countries to rapidly scale up renewable energy deployment and electrification to enhance energy security by cutting fossil fuel imports. Given this context, calling for an acceleration of electrification globally was a logical next step. Domestically, the European Commission will publish its Electrification Action Plan on 17 July, reinforcing Europe's commitment to accelerating electrification.

The global campaign “Electrify Now” and the platform launched by the European Commission and the United Kingdom are focused on reducing dependency on fossil fuels, which is a welcome reference to one of the key goals agreed at COP28 on “transitioning away from fossil fuels”. An acceleration of the clean electrification rate would indeed be a very clear indicator of success in the implementation of this decision, especially if coupled with the targets agreed at COP28 to triple renewables and double energy efficiency. Taken together, these could also contribute to reaching the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG7) to achieve universal access to energy by 2030.

What matters now is to move quickly from generic pledge to concrete delivery: the promoters of “Electrify Now” need to join forces with the COP31 Presidency to broaden this coalition to include more developing countries and work on concrete packages of support.

Past presidencies have been the most successful when they have presented well in advance and faithfully executed their plans to deliver outcomes at COP. This is the recipe of success for Türkiye and Australia as well: after consulting with Parties and main stakeholders, in particular governments and industries promoting “Electrify Now”, the COP31 Presidency could design and propose a clear plan to deliver its electrification priority, assemble a broad and diverse coalition of Parties and stakeholders to support it, and work toward an ambitious consensus.