The proposed language ties a higher electricity share to pathways consistent with keeping 1.5°C alive, and presents it as complementary to expanding renewable energy and improving efficiency. It does not explicitly require that the electricity come from sources that do not emit greenhouse gases. Globally, 2025 was the first year in which renewable sources generated more electricity than coal, a shift advocates cite as evidence that electrification can move faster than the wider climate talks.
That push comes as the 2015 Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C now looks out of reach, and as an energy crisis linked to war in the Middle East has forced governments to face their dependence on fossil fuels.
The talks opened against a bleak backdrop of tense geopolitics and a summer marked by a series of disasters. Climate advocates nonetheless argued that the same pressures give them a reason for hope, because energy sovereignty and climate ambition can point in the same direction.
The host country’s power system is part of the argument. According to the energy think-tank Ember, 43 percent of Turkey’s electricity came from clean sources in 2025, a record, including 22 percent from wind and solar and 16 percent from hydropower.
The Turkish presidency is expected to ask countries to make a voluntary commitment known as the 35-35 target, and a draft text calls for raising electricity’s share of total final energy consumption.
In its latest annual report, published on October 21, the UN warned again that temperatures are heading toward a 2.8°C rise by 2100 if nothing changes, and 2.6°C if current efforts continue.
Febvre said the debate cannot stop at the source of power. Beyond how electricity is produced, the challenge will also turn on how much energy is produced, and “amid all this, we also have to adopt a real energy conservation plan,” Febvre said.
Turkey wants the issue inside the official negotiations and in the final COP agreement, Febvre said. “Turkey is also pushing for this issue to be debated as part of the official negotiations and thus be included in the final COP agreement,” Febvre said. “At the national level, some countries are ahead of the curve,” Redmond-King said, pointing to the spread of electric cars and heat pumps as signs that electricity is already replacing other fuels in everyday use.