Zambia and the world, three times a day
Global · Environment · Turkey Source-checked
The UN climate conference began in Antalya, Turkey, on Monday and runs to 20 November. The hosts are promoting a voluntary pledge to lift electricity to 35 percent of world energy use by 2035, while critics say it does not guarantee clean power.
The 31st UN climate conference opened on Monday in the Turkish resort city of Antalya. Delegates from nearly every country will meet from 9 to 20 November, DW reports. Turkey is the official host, while Australia is leading the negotiations.
The hosts have made electrification a central theme. Al Jazeera says Turkey is launching the non-binding 35-by-35 Global Electrification Pledge, which aims for electricity to supply at least 35 percent of global energy demand by 2035. The International Energy Agency says electricity now makes up about one fifth of total final energy use. COP31 president and Turkish environment minister Murat Kurum said this year’s energy crisis had shown that imported energy is energy a country does not control, and that electrification protects communities from volatile global markets and cuts emissions.
The energy crisis follows the US and Israeli war on Iran, which Al Jazeera says has badly disrupted oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and pushed up fuel prices. The same report says several Asian countries, including South Korea, India and Thailand, have relied more on coal, while renewable energy has also grown because of cheap clean technology exports from China.
Not everyone is convinced by the pledge. Climate advocates quoted by Al Jazeera say it does not require the extra electricity to come from low-carbon sources, which has started a debate about whether electrification alone counts as climate progress. A coalition of countries, including Pacific island states that face rising seas, is pushing for a clearer global roadmap away from fossil fuels. Oil and gas producers such as Saudi Arabia argue that fossil fuels can remain a large part of the energy mix if paired with technology to cut or capture emissions.
DW sets the meeting against a worrying background. It notes that the UN has concluded that the 1.5 degree limit agreed in Paris in 2015 can no longer be kept and that current national commitments, if fully carried out, would still mean warming of up to 2.6 degrees. A climate expert quoted by DW says the Paris Agreement has made a real difference but that the world could be doing more. DW says the question of how fast to move away from coal, oil and gas will again be at the centre of the talks, as there is still no agreement on it.
The talks will test whether governments can agree on how quickly to move away from fossil fuels at a time when an energy crisis is pushing some of them back towards coal.
The pledge is voluntary and it is not yet known how many countries will sign it. We did not read the conference documents or the pledge text. We rely on the reports for the UN warming projections and the IEA figure.
Each link goes to the specific article or document we used. Two articles carrying the same wire report count as one source.
Spotted a mistake? See our corrections process.
