June 27, 2026

Turkey Pushes Bold Global Plan to Electrify 35% of Energy Use by 2035

Turkey, the host of the UN’s COP31 climate summit, has urged other countries to electrify to support the global green transition. This shift could significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce reliance on fossil fuels over the next decade, helping to achieve global climate change targets.

Murat Kurum, Turkey’s environment minister, who will preside over the COP31 summit alongside Australian representatives, is encouraging countries to meet at least a third of their energy needs with electricity over the next decade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Kurum stressed that electrifying all sectors of the economy would support a low-carbon future. He called for an increase in the share of electricity meeting energy demand from 20% today to 35% by 2035.

The proportion of global electricity generated using renewable energy has steadily increased in recent years to around one-third. However, some hard-to-abate sectors, such as transport, heating, and heavy industry, continue to rely heavily on oil, gas, and coal, with around 80 per cent of global energy still coming from fossil fuels.

The annual UN COP conferences aim to encourage greater coordination for global climate action, in line with the Paris Agreement targets. Australia’s climate change minister, Chris Bowen, said that COP31 will focus on electrifying the global economy. “Whether it be electrifying industry in a great industrial powerhouse like Germany or assisting African communities with the journey to clean cooking, or improving the energy security of Pacific nations by replacing diesel with solar energy, renewable energy is now the cheapest form of power available to us,” said Bowen.

Representatives from various governments met in June to discuss priorities for the next COP summit, which will be held this November in Antalya, Turkey. During the meeting, Kurum explained, “By electrifying daily life, from transport to buildings and industry, we can protect families and businesses from volatile energy markets. This 35% by 2035 target will be one of the defining priorities of our COP31 presidency.” In addition to focusing on electrification, Kurum also called for the world to reduce its waste growth rate by 50 per cent by 2035.

Recent technological innovations have made it easier to electrify sectors such as transport and heating, with options including electric vehicles and heat pumps. However, uptake has been slower than anticipated, despite volatility in fossil fuel prices and rising consumer energy bills. However, as the price of cleantech continues to fall and government policies are encouraging uptake in many countries, this trend could soon change.

Due to the expected occurrence of the “super El Niño”, also known as a Godzilla El Niño, temperatures could rise to unprecedented levels over the next year, causing severe climate conditions, such as deadly heatwaves and drought. However, accelerating the global shift to renewable energy could help tackle climate change in the years to come.

While the electricity target would be voluntary, it is expected to support the accelerated electrification of energy across the almost 200 countries involved in the COP conference.

To achieve the target discussed, the International Energy Agency is expected to produce a report outlining how to achieve 35% electrification. Kurum also emphasised plans to “Work closely with all countries, especially with developing economies, to help facilitate access to technical assistance, capacity-building, and financial support in line with this goal.”

Turkey has been focusing on electrifying its own energy sector, with plans to create an Azerbaijan-Europe electricity corridor. In June, Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Alparslan Bayraktar, announced plans to develop the corridor to boost energy connectivity between Azerbaijan and Southeast Europe. Bayraktar said, “We are going to create the electricity version of TANAP, the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline that transports gas from Azerbaijan to Europe via Turkey”.

This will expand Azerbaijan's and Turkey’s energy cooperation beyond fossil fuels, as countries worldwide look to strengthen regional energy supply chains, particularly in the wake of the Middle East energy crisis and closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Once complete, the corridor may extend to Georgia and Bulgaria. Azerbaijan began construction on sections of a planned line expected to connect it to Europe earlier this year. The country’s power transmission grid operator, AzerEnergy, also announced plans to develop a 230-kilometre-long, 400-kV transmission line from Nakhchivan to Turkey.

Turkey intends to modernise its electricity transmission and distribution network with an investment of around $30 billion over the next decade to accommodate higher output from renewable and nuclear energy. Meanwhile, the capital, Ankara, plans to upgrade its electricity transmission connections with neighbouring Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Bulgaria to trade surplus energy.

Turkey has major electrification plans that it hopes will encourage other countries around the globe to invest in a shift of their own. The hosts of the next COP conference hope to encourage countries to take action to increase the share of electricity that meets energy demand from 20% today to 35% by 2035, as well as to reduce the waste growth rate to alleviate the pressures of climate change.