COP31 hopeful pushes big electrification drive in London, calls it shield against energy shocks

By: Oluwaseun M. Lawal

London was grey. A bit humid. But inside the packed halls of Climate Innovation Forum, the mood felt charged.

Murat Kurum, Turkey’s environment minister and president-designate of COP31, stepped up with a message that was simple, almost blunt: electrify everything. And do it faster.

He wasn’t speaking in abstract climate jargon. Not really. His pitch was grounded in something people feel every month — energy bills. Volatile prices. Sudden spikes. The kind that shake households and squeeze businesses tight.

“Electrification,” he said, pausing slightly, “is no longer optional.” It’s protection. It’s stability. It’s economic common sense.

The speech marked the opening stretch of London Climate Action Week 2026, a sprawling gathering that draws tens of thousands — policymakers, investors, activists, corporate leaders. More than 75,000 people are expected across the week. Panels everywhere. Side events. Quiet deal-making in corridors.

And Kurum came with a number. Actually, two numbers. Thirty-five by thirty-five.

The proposed “35×35” target aims to lift electricity’s share of final energy consumption to 35 percent by 2035. Today, it sits just above 20 percent globally. A big jump. Some would say ambitious. Others might say overdue.

Transport. Buildings. Industry. All sectors must lean harder into electrification, he argued. Cars, heating systems, factories. The works.

He framed it not just as climate strategy, but as economic defense. Countries tired of fossil fuel price swings. Businesses weary of uncertainty. Families trying to budget in unstable markets.

“This issue is being discussed in cabinets and boardrooms,” he noted. And you could sense he meant it. Energy security is no longer a distant policy debate. It’s kitchen-table stuff now.

There’s early backing for the 35×35 idea. According to Kurum, heavyweights like the International Energy Agency and the International Renewable Energy Agency are on board. So is the Global Renewables Alliance. Coalitions of the willing, he called them.

Still, support on paper is one thing. Implementation is another.

Kurum linked the push to the broader agenda for COP31, which Turkey will host in Antalya this November. The Mediterranean city will become, for two weeks at least, the center of global climate diplomacy. Expectations are rising already.

Electrification sits at the heart of the presidency’s priorities. But it’s not alone.

Waste reduction. Circular economy expansion. More resilient cities. Stronger climate literacy. And crucially, finance.

Finance always comes back.

Kurum reminded the audience of commitments made in recent COP meetings. At COP28 in Dubai, the first Global Stocktake made it clear: rising electricity demand must be met with clean energy. Renewables and electrification have to move together. Otherwise, emissions simply shift instead of shrink.

Then there’s the Baku Finance Goal. In 2024, countries agreed to mobilize at least $300 billion annually by 2035 to support climate action in developing nations. A large figure. But critics often question how much of that will truly materialize.

Kurum was direct on this point. Developing countries cannot electrify, decarbonize, or modernize grids without serious financial backing. Access to capital remains uneven. Expensive. Sometimes unfair.

“For this transformation to succeed,” he stressed, “countries need the finance they are promised.” He added that the incoming COP31 presidency will keep pressure on donor governments. Contributions must follow commitments. No quiet backtracking.

There was also emphasis on the practical side of transition.

Electricity demand is rising globally. Fast. Electric vehicles. Heat pumps. Data centers. Cooling systems in hotter climates. The list grows every year. Meeting that demand with fossil fuels would undercut the whole effort. So clean supply must scale just as quickly — solar, wind, hydro, storage, smarter grids.

It sounds straightforward. It rarely is.

Beyond energy, the COP31 team is floating additional measurable goals. Halve the growth rate of waste generation. Cut building-sector energy intensity by at least 25 percent. Raise recycled material use in manufacturing to 15 percent or more. These are not flashy headlines, maybe. But they matter in cumulative ways.

During London Climate Action Week, the Turkish delegation plans a steady drumbeat of engagement. A new COP31 Business Forum will launch. There’s a high-level dialogue on energy transition with the IEA. A Global Energy Transition and Electrification Summit is scheduled. Even an audience with King Charles III is on the calendar, underscoring the diplomatic weight behind the scenes.

The storytelling around electrification is shifting. It used to be framed mostly as emissions reduction. Necessary, yes, but distant for many people. Now the narrative leans into cost stability, industrial competitiveness, resilience.

In quiet conversations after the speech, some attendees noted the political tightrope. Electrification requires grid upgrades, infrastructure spending, regulatory reform. It can unsettle incumbent industries. It demands coordination that governments sometimes struggle to deliver.

Yet the direction of travel seems clear.

As Kurum put it — in a line that lingered — electrification and renewables must “move forward simultaneously.” One without the other doesn’t secure the future.

Outside, London traffic hummed. Electric buses slid past diesel taxis. A small snapshot of transition already underway.

Whether the world can scale that snapshot to 35 percent by 2035 is another question. But in London this week, at least, the charge has been sounded.