The COP31 Presidency should make action to close the electrification implementation gap a defining test of this year’s climate summit, We Mean Business Coalition has urged, one week before governments gather in Antalya.
Electrification is at the centre of COP31’s Action Agenda, with Türkiye and Australia backing a 35×35 ambition to raise electricity’s share of global final energy demand to 35% by 2035. We Mean Business Coalition (WMBC), a business action focussed climate non-profit, says the priority now is to turn that momentum into deployment.
The implementation gap has been repeatedly identified in recent WMBC research. Without faster progress, countries are left more exposed to energy insecurity and volatile prices, while industrial competitiveness and investment suffer. Businesses face higher costs, delayed projects and tougher decisions about where to put capital.
The Electrification Competitiveness Index found that in the vast majority of economies analysed, policy, infrastructure and other enabling conditions are ahead of deployment on the ground. The Index found China furthest ahead on actual electrification, while the US risks losing momentum and major European economies including Germany, the UK, Italy and Poland are struggling to turn strong policy frameworks into comparable progress on the ground.