A group of civil society organisations, networks and movements from several countries has written to the COP31 Presidencies expressing their support for the “35 by 35” global target — 35% electrification of the world’s final energy demand by 2035 as a key element of COP31 – but has laid down a number of conditions related to realisation of the goal.
Signatories to the open letter include 90-odd organisations from across the world working on environmental concerns, sustainability and peace, such as 350.org, Africa Just Transition Network, Amnesty International, Climate Action Network International, Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development, Beyond Fossil Fuels, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, , Friends of the Earth Australia, Germanwatch, Greenpeace International, Nillumbik Climate Action Team, Oxfam, Renewables First and Seniors for Climate Action Now among others
The target should be treated as a floor for collective action
Welcoming the COP31 Presidencies’ proposal to place the global target of 35% electrification of final energy demand by 2035 at the centre of COP31 goals, and the growing political momentum behind electrification as demonstrated recently by the Electrify Now governments’ statement, the letter articulates a few concerns attending such a goal.
“Such a target should be treated as a floor for collective action on which countries build. But electrification is a means, not an end,” the letter says. “Our support for the target is therefore conditional: it counts only if the power is renewable, if it reaches the people who have no electricity today, if the money follows, and if it comes alongside progress in the negotiations on the Just Transition mechanism, finance, and adaptation, and other existing commitments,” it asserts.
The signatories point at the role of fossil fuel in climate change and economies and stress electrification cannot work out without taking the negative impact of fossil fuel into account.
The 35% electrification target to be aligned with 1.5°C
“We are already seeing rising electricity demand used as a justification for new gas turbines, new gas exploration and delayed coal retirements, while governments approving new coal, oil and gas production lock in the supply that electrification is meant to displace,” the letter says. Rising electrification must correspond to declining fossil fuel-generated energy.
“IRENA’s analysis shows that for a 35% electrification target to be aligned with 1.5°C, the share of fossil fuels in total energy supply must fall to 48% or less by 2035,” it explains.
Electrification should exclude fossil fuels and nuclear sources
The letter lays down seven conditions
1. Electrification must run on renewables and cut fossil fuel dependence, not extends it.
The letter demands that electrification be explicitly defined as a target based on renewable energy, excluding fossil fuels and nuclear power, and be delivered together with the commitments already agreed in the first Global Stocktake: “tripling global renewable energy capacity and doubling the rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030, and transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems.”
2. Efficiency and sufficiency come first, and electrification for people before data centres.
The organisations demand prioritisation of energy efficiency, particularly in high-income countries, so that electrification reduces overall energy demand rather than adding to it. They add that growing electricity demand from data centres and AI should not come at the expense of a just energy transition.
“Any data centres built should run on 100% additional renewable energy matched to their demand, support grid stability, be sited to limit harm to nature, land and communities, use water responsibly, minimise embodied emissions, report their energy and water use publicly, and commit to earning and keeping the consent of the communities that host them,” it says.
3. Electrification must close the energy access gap.
“Put the 655 million people still without electricity, and the many more without reliable or affordable supply of any kind of energy, at the centre of the electrification agenda, together with the around 2 billion people who still rely on polluting fuels and technologies for cooking,” the letter says.
4. A global benchmark must be delivered through national targets and policies.
The letter asks the 35% by 2035 target to be treated as a global benchmark, not a one-size-fits-all target, with nationally determined pathways that reflect each country’s starting point, development priorities and capabilities, consistent with equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC).
5. Grids and storage must be built for renewables and respect community rights.
“Scale investment in transmission, distribution, storage and mini-grids so that they can support greater shares of renewables-based electricity, with distribution networks receiving the same attention as large transmission lines,” the letter demands.
It seeks the specific barriers faced across the Global South, where grids remain underfunded and fragmented and finance and infrastructure are constrained, to be addressed.
6. Ambition must be backed by public finance and means of implementation.
“Recognise that new targets without new money will remain targets on paper,” the letter says. “Developed countries must provide significantly scaled-up public climate finance, predominantly grant-based and concessional, to support renewables-based electrification and energy access in developing countries, without adding to unsustainable debt burdens.”
Electrification faces the same funding problems that are slowing down the whole energy transition – the cost of capital is high, many governments face limited fiscal space, high debt, and grids and storage still lack investment, the letter explains.
7. Transition minerals must not repeat the harms of extraction.
Renewable energy infrastructure, batteries, grids and electric technologies, require minerals. “The transition must not repeat the harms of the fossil fuel era or replace one dependency with another,” the letter says.
COP31 electrification goal can fast-track energy transition; ready to collaborate
COP31 can turn the momentum for electrification into faster, fairer progress on the energy transition, the letter says. “We stand ready to work with the COP31 Presidencies and governments to make electrification done right a consequential outcome of COP31,” it pledges.