Decarbonisation has long been the watchword in the fight against climate change. Moreover, the decarbonisation debate has now evolved from asking “how should it be done?” to “how quickly should it be done?”, because despite all efforts, the global economy remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels. As a result, we are still far from achieving the carbon neutrality required to minimise fossil fuel use and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The good news, however, is that the race to accelerate the clean energy transition is gaining momentum across two critical areas. The first is the expansion of renewable energy generation. The second is electrification, which involves replacing fossil fuel-powered equipment, appliances and systems with solutions powered by electricity generated from renewable sources, with the aim of meeting final energy demand through electricity.
While the former is at an earlier stage and expanding rapidly, the latter, electrification, is further along but growing at a slower pace. Yet electrification needs to play a more decisive role today, because without it, electricity generated from clean sources cannot replace fossil fuels at the point of final energy use.
Within the broader sustainability agenda, electrification technologies are emerging as a critical catalyst for decarbonisation and have become one of the key pillars of the fight against climate change. By enabling the use of electricity generated from solar, wind and other clean, renewable sources, electrification can fundamentally reshape how energy is consumed across the economy.
Global Electrification Target Announced
It is increasingly clear that electrification is one of the key drivers of an energy transition aligned with the global 1.5°C target, and that accelerating electrification across sectors ranging from households and transport to buildings and industry is fundamental to the energy transition. In this context, Türkiye, which is preparing to host the UN Climate Change Conference, COP31, next November, has proposed a new global target to accelerate electrification worldwide. COP31 President Murat Kurum announced a global target to increase the share of final energy demand met by electricity from just above 20% today to 35% by 2035.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) emphasises that the share of electricity in final energy consumption needs to increase to 35% by 2035 and exceed 50% by 2050. Achieving these targets will require a substantial acceleration of electrification across transport, heating and industrial applications.
A concrete step in this direction has also come from the European Union. The EU has established a key indicator for the share of electricity in final energy consumption, setting an electrification target of 32% for 2030. The plan, expected to be published next month, aims to accelerate the cost-effective and system-compatible electrification of energy consumption across transport, industry and buildings.
Renewable Energy and Electrification Must Advance Together
More than 60% of global energy-related emissions still originate from final energy use today, and this is unlikely to change significantly unless electrification becomes more widespread. Three-quarters of the world's population live in countries that import fossil fuels. At the same time, fossil fuels are predominantly consumed in transport, buildings and industry. This means that such a transition could strengthen energy security and independence by replacing imported fossil fuels with electricity generated from domestic renewable energy resources.
However, the transition is still not being addressed in a sufficiently integrated manner. While most countries' national climate plans include renewable energy targets or strategies, electrification is often addressed ambiguously or omitted altogether. Today, only a limited number of countries explicitly refer to electrification in their plans, and even in these cases, it is predominantly framed in the context of expanding access to energy.
Yet the priorities are clear. If we manage the transition in a forward-looking and just manner, we have all the tools required to support electrification with competitive, low-carbon electricity. Replacing petrol or diesel-powered vehicles with electric vehicles in transport, replacing natural gas- or coal-fired heating systems in buildings with electric heat pumps, and electrifying carbon-intensive industrial operations such as iron and steel production are all essential components of the electrification agenda. However, misconceptions surrounding technology and growing trade tensions risk slowing the pace of mass electrification.
This major transformation also requires smart policy frameworks, stronger infrastructure and sustained technological innovation. For this reason, investment in R&D, private-sector innovation and support for bringing emerging technologies from the laboratory to market are of critical importance. We must also optimise both power generation and infrastructure costs. At the same time, we need to ensure that the expansion of electricity generation capacity keeps pace with the growing adoption of electricity-based end-use applications. We cannot afford to lose time. Delays in the electrification journey will significantly increase the cost of the energy transition and weaken our efforts to combat climate change.
Millions of New Jobs
Success will, of course, require each sector to transition at its own pace, taking into account its specific technological and economic conditions. From buildings and cold-chain systems to transport and industry, the shift towards electrification is not only reducing emissions and lowering costs, but also creating new employment opportunities.
Joint reports by IRENA and the International Labour Organization (ILO) show that accelerating electrification is creating millions of new job opportunities worldwide, with this trend expected to strengthen further in the coming years. While the energy transition will result in some job losses in fossil fuel industries, demand is expected to rise rapidly in renewable energy, energy efficiency, grid modernisation and electrification, particularly for electrical technicians, engineers, software developers, data specialists and maintenance personnel. In addition, electrification is transforming a wide range of sectors, including automotive, construction, manufacturing, software, recycling and logistics, creating new professions and areas of expertise.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), electric vehicles and heat pumps, the leading technologies driving electrification, are expanding rapidly. The IEA projects that electric vehicles will account for approximately three-quarters of the global clean technology market, valued at around USD 2 to 3 trillion, by 2035, while noting that heat pumps will play a pivotal role in decarbonising buildings.
Electrification should therefore be placed at the centre of the energy transition not only because of its environmental benefits in tackling climate change, but also because it is essential to building lower-cost, high-performance energy systems. The transition begins, in fact, with changing the way we talk about the energy transition itself. The widespread deployment of renewable energy can certainly make electricity cheaper, but electrification transforms the technologies that underpin people's everyday lives. This is precisely where countries that advance both clean power generation and electrification in tandem gain a competitive edge. We must therefore avoid treating electrification as a minor detail at the final stage of the transition and recognise it for what it is: the main stage of the energy transition.
Date: 26 June 2026
