Wars Put Faster Electrification on COP31 Agenda

Bowen told Bloomberg he would regard COP31 as a success if every participating country committed to increasing electricity’s share of its final energy demand. Final energy refers to what people and businesses actually use—such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and electricity—rather than raw sources such as crude oil, coal or gas.

More than 80% of the world’s primary energy still comes from hydrocarbons, but their share falls to 65% when measured as final energy, according to Akshat Rathi, host of Bloomberg’s Zero podcast. Rathi argued that electrification can improve efficiency by lowering primary energy demand without reducing the services people use. Advocates want electricity supplied by lower-emission sources, including wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, biomass and nuclear power.

BloombergNEF put global energy-transition investment at $2.3 trillion last year, 8% above the previous year. Transport electrification received the largest share, followed by wind and solar. Despite the buildout of electric vehicles and renewable generation, global carbon emissions have not fallen, although some regions, including Europe, have recorded declines. The article attributes those regional reductions largely to lower energy demand associated with higher costs from emissions policies.

Bowen told Rathi that an electric car charged on a coal-powered grid could still cut emissions by “something like 60%.” Critics, however, point to EVs’ material requirements and note that global crude-oil demand for transport has risen despite a decade of EV sales growth.

Cost also remains a barrier. Countries with high solar penetration can have some of the world’s highest electricity prices, in part because of subsidies, compensation for surplus power and the expense of backup generation. Batteries could help manage the variability of wind and solar, but they bring costs, land requirements and fire risks. The Moss Landing storage site in California has caught fire twice in two years, according to the source article. It argues that a COP31 pledge would not by itself resolve these practical challenges.