COP31's "35-by-35" Electrification Pledge: What It Means for India and the Global South
The Turkish Presidency of COP31, the UN climate conference to be held in Antalya, Türkiye from 9 to 20 November 2026, has proposed a voluntary "35-by-35" electrification pledge.
The pledge aims for electricity to meet at least 35% of the world's final energy demand by 2035, up from roughly 20 to 23% today. Getting there would need electrification to grow nearly four times faster than it has since 2010.
Supporters say electrification saves energy because electric motors turn most of their energy into motion, while fuel engines waste most of it as heat. It also cuts air pollution and reduces dependence on imported oil and gas.
A recent analysis argues that developing countries can "leapfrog" (skip) the dirty, fuel-based stage of development, citing electric mobility in Ethiopia and Nepal and India's progress in electric vehicles, renewables and solar irrigation pumps.
Critics point out that the pledge does not require the extra electricity to come from clean sources. Developing countries also face high borrowing costs, weak grids and financially stressed power distribution companies, so analysts say the pledge must come with finance and technology support, not as an unfunded target.
Electrification of Final Energy Demand
Electrification means using electricity, instead of burning coal, oil, gas or wood, to do everyday work like moving vehicles, cooking food, heating water and running factories. When a city replaces diesel buses with electric buses, or a farmer swaps a diesel pump for a solar-powered electric pump, that is electrification. The share of electricity in the total energy that people and businesses finally use is a key measure of how far a country has moved towards clean energy. Today, electricity meets only about one-fifth of the world's final energy needs.
The 35-by-35 pledge puts electrification at the centre of COP31. For India and other developing countries, it is a chance to grow on clean electricity rather than imported fossil fuels, but only if the target comes with clean-power safeguards, cheaper finance and support for local manufacturing.
UNFCCC and the Conference of the Parties (COP)
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the main world treaty on climate change, agreed in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit. The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the yearly meeting of all the countries that have joined it, and it is the treaty's highest decision-making body. Big climate agreements like the Kyoto Protocol (1997) and the Paris Agreement (2015) were adopted at COPs. Decisions are normally made by consensus, which means no country formally objects.
The 35-by-35 pledge is the COP31 Presidency's flagship idea. Like most presidency initiatives, it is voluntary, so its success depends on how many countries sign up and whether finance follows.
Just Transition: A Fair Shift to Clean Energy
A just transition means moving from a fossil fuel economy to a clean, low-carbon economy in a way that is fair to everyone. "Just" here means fair. Workers, families and regions that depend on coal, oil and gas should not be left jobless and poor when the world moves to clean energy. For developing countries, it also means the shift must not block their right to grow and reduce poverty.
Analysts argue that the 35-by-35 pledge will only be fair to the Global South if it allows different timelines and comes with cheap finance and technology. Otherwise it could become one more target that poorer countries must meet on their own, which goes against the idea of a just transition.
- COP31: Antalya, Türkiye, 9 to 20 November 2026; Türkiye holds the Presidency
- 35-by-35 pledge: electricity to meet at least 35% of global final energy demand by 2035; voluntary
- Current share: about 20 to 23%; target needs electrification at nearly 4 times the pace since 2010
- Electric drivetrains convert about 80 to 90% of energy into motion; combustion wastes about 70 to 80% as heat
- Criticism: pledge has no requirement that new electricity be clean
- India: 50% non-fossil installed capacity achieved June 2025; 500 GW non-fossil target by 2030; net zero by 2070