Push for electrification finally takes centre stage in pre-Cop31 climate talks | Cop31

Electrifying the world with electric vehicles, electric heating and cooling, and modern heavy industry could be the next big step towards phasing out fossil fuels and 80% of global energy still comes from hydrocarbons. Since using electrical energy is much more efficient than combustion, this move will save billions of dollars for consumers and businesses; According to one estimate, global energy demand could be halved.

For decades, electrification was a backwater of global climate action. But in the last two weeks, during preparatory talks in Bonn ahead of the upcoming UN COP31 climate summit, the issue has finally come into the spotlight.

Türkiye’s Environment Minister Murat Kurum, who will host the COP31 summit this November, told the Guardian last week: “We cannot achieve any target without electrification. [of the Paris agreement]Therefore, we need to experience this transformation. “Whether you call it the missing piece of the puzzle or the most important tool in our toolbox, this is it.”

Türkiye, with the support of COP31 co-chair Australia, has proposed setting a target of providing 35% of final energy from electricity by 2035. [all aspects of life]and will serve us in the bigger picture, bigger goals [of the Paris agreement]he said.

The push for electrification was the crux of two weeks of talks in Bonn; otherwise there wasn’t much to cheer about. After a cordial start to the annual meeting, held roughly at the halfway point of the annual climate “party conference” (Polis) summits, negotiations have descended into near-comedy in recent days; Some countries have refused to agree on wording that would base decisions on the “best available science,” even though it has been a cornerstone of climate agreements for more than 30 years. The talks, which were expected to lay the foundations of COP31, ended on Thursday evening with many issues remaining unresolved.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell warned countries after two weeks of negotiations ended on Thursday night and said, “We have seen side steps and stalling.” “We have seen geopolitical tensions grip these halls. We cannot afford to reopen previous decisions, renegotiate existing goals, or backtrack. What we need is cooperation, not fierce competition.”

The biggest debate was over climate science and the 1.5 degree target. In the part of the talks known as “research and systematic observations,” some countries, led by Saudi Arabia and the Arab nation group but also including India, objected to language reaffirming climate science and argued that research by scientists in rich countries dominated presentations to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

But other countries said the aim was clearly to delay and derail. Sivendra Michael, speaking on behalf of Pacific Island countries, said: “We hear voices in these rooms doing everything they can to undermine science. Those who suppress references to science are not our friends.”

He added: “There are powerful interest groups that want to protect their wealth and influence. We see some countries wielding that power.” [UN] Take hostage while defenseless people are exposed to heat stress, storms, drought and famine.

Questions were also raised by many of the same countries about the inclusion of the global target to limit temperatures to 1.5°C in various parts of the negotiating texts, but they met with fierce opposition.

Surangel Whipps, president of the Pacific nation Palau, told a separate conference in Germany: “We know we can’t hit the 1.5C target, but what we have to do is not give up.”

There was greater alignment on a “just transition”, a key issue for campaigners, expressing the need to support workers affected by the transition to a low-carbon economy and protect them from exploitation.

Camila Mercure, climate policy coordinator for Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, said the discussions were constructive. “During [the talks] They revealed important differences between the parties, but also showed that there was a path to a meaningful outcome [on a just transition] At Cop31. “Governments now need to act constructively to make this happen.”

But climate finance remains a major hurdle as developed countries continue to cut overseas aid and prioritize military spending. Poor countries were angry that rich nations were dragging their feet on meeting the goal of tripling their funding to adapt to the effects of the climate crisis. Pooja Dave, adaptation policy coordinator at Climate Action Network International, said: “What we saw was clear ill-will and unwillingness of developed countries to make progress on the global target on adaptation. You cannot implement GGA without funding.”

At the COP30 summit in Brazil last year, attempts by countries to restate their commitment to “move away from fossil fuels” were blocked, but more than 50 countries held their own conferences in April to discuss such a gradual transition.

But the electrification goal marked a step change after years of little mention in Cops; This was partly because electrification technology was lagging behind renewable generation technology. But now China has moved to mass production of electric vehicles, lowering prices; Heat pumps have also dropped in price, although less dramatically, and could save consumers hundreds of dollars on their energy bills. Industrial processes are also increasingly turning to cheaper renewable energy.

Electric technology is now ready for widespread use and offers three to five times greater efficiency than fossil fuel equivalents, according to Prof Jan Rosenow of the University of Oxford. “I call it electro-efficiency,” he said. “The inherent efficiency of electric technology compared to fossil fuels.”

Rosenow predicted in a forthcoming paper that the global transition to electrification will halve energy demand. This will generate savings that will quickly run into trillions of dollars worldwide, freeing up cash that governments, businesses and consumers can spend on better causes, from health to education to defense.

Some countries are far ahead. Japan, for example, has almost reached the target proposed by the COP31 presidency of 35% of its energy coming from electricity. China is at almost 30%, but the US remains at 22%, India and Brazil are at around 20%, and globally the figure is 21%.

But even police electrification measures face an uphill battle to gain acceptance in byzantine processes, even though it is widely accepted that they are necessary to meet scientific recommendations to reduce emissions to net zero by mid-century.

Although the United States was the only major country not participating in the UN talks, the impact of Donald Trump’s presidency was also felt in the negotiation halls. “Saudi Arabia has taken a more obvious role [in disrupting progress]“And part of that is because the United States has played a role in holding them back,” one negotiator said. One negotiator, Saudi is not alone: ​​He has allies among the Gulf states working together as an Arab group, and he is joined on some issues by India, on others by Russia and even Kenya, generally a strong supporter of climate action. “People think they can do this because they see it’s coming from the United States,” the negotiator said.