Countries fight over keeping electricity pledge clean at COP31

{"text":[[{"start":9.16,"text":"The push for a global electrification target at this year’s UN climate summit has raised concerns among negotiators that it could prolong the role of fossil fuels."}],[{"start":19.04,"text":"The co-hosts of Turkey and Australia are proposing the new pledge to increase electricity’s share of global final energy consumption from 23 per cent today to 35 per cent by 2035."}],[{"start":31.56,"text":"If this increase were powered by clean electricity, it would cut the projected level of warming of at least 2.6C above pre-industrial levels, based on present government policies, by 0.3C, according to research by the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC) think-tank."}],[{"start":48.72,"text":"Meeting the target would mean switching to electric vehicles, rolling out heat pumps and changing industrial processes from being driven by fossil fuels to electricity, all of which would require big upgrades to grids across the world."}],[{"start":62.36,"text":"But the pledge does not require clean or renewable energy to meet the goal, instead saying “electrification pathways and rates, including the use of clean electricity and technologies, will differ according to different starting points”."}],[{"start":75.24,"text":"Ministers, country negotiators and UN observers interviewed by the FT expressed their concerns about the framing. One suggested the wording had “clearly been run by Saudi Arabia”, which has consistently blocked talks about a shift from fossil fuels at past climate talks."}],[{"start":90.76,"text":"Many countries including EU members have not jointly agreed to the pledge, several people said, with differences of ambition causing divisions within the EU."}],[{"start":100.36,"text":"Some European negotiators are aiming to strengthen the pledge. “This must involve clean electricity. If the electricity is generated from coal, it simply does not work,” said a French environmental ministry official."}],[{"start":112.96,"text":"One reason behind the split is disagreement over whether the electricity pledge should be included in a final binding agreement rather than in the side action agenda. Several people said the text could include a reference to electrification without a specific target."}],[{"start":127.56,"text":"Reaching the target would require large investments in grids. Some developing countries say they are concerned they lack the infrastructure to deliver on the promise."}],[{"start":136.32,"text":"Chair of the African group of negotiators, Antwi-Boasiako Amoah, said the group held concerns both about the target and its inclusion in a final agreement. “It has to stay in the action agenda,” he said, referring to the non-negotiated part of the talks."}],[{"start":151.88,"text":"UK energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh told the FT the target was “positive” but must uphold the Paris Agreement, where countries agreed to limit the global temperature rise to well below 2C and ideally to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels."}],[{"start":169.48,"text":"“The thing that we will be trying to work towards is that the electrification target doesn’t erode [the] Paris [accord] by essentially creating a back door to non-clean,” said Fahnbulleh."}],[{"start":180,"text":"Representing the 39 nations in the Alliance of Small Island States, Palau’s UN ambassador Ilana Victorya Seid said electrification was “an important part of the solution, provided it is powered by clean energy”. The group would support the target being included in the final agreement if it specified clean power."}],[{"start":198.4,"text":"During COP30 in Brazil, a dispute among countries over fossil fuels dominated and almost led to the collapse of the talks. Both Turkey and Australia are keen to avoid a similar fight this year, with the electrification pledge seen as a way to circumvent the issue."}],[{"start":213.52,"text":"COP31 president-designate Murat Kurum said this year’s summit has been designed to “usher in the age of electricity”."}],[{"start":220.92,"text":"International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol defended the initiative, developed in conjunction with the UN. Insistence that only renewables or nuclear energy were involved in reaching the electricity goal would have made it difficult to build “consensus”, he said."}],[{"start":235.36,"text":"Birol said countries were “free to choose which fuel they want to meet that demand growth but . . . last year already 75 per cent of the new builds were renewables . . . in any case, it will lead to emissions reduction.”"}],[{"start":246.96,"text":"ETC chair Lord Adair Turner said the proposed goal “was not a perfect target”, but that “clean electrification” was crucial for tackling greenhouse gas emissions."}],[{"start":256.36,"text":"“Inclusion in the cover text [final agreement] would be very welcome. But what really matters is that countries sign up to the target on clean electrification and then commit to designing the specific national strategy that will be effective in their own national context,” he said. “That is the path to success.”"}],[{"start":275.76,"text":"Kurt Vandenberghe, the EU’s top climate civil servant, told an FT event last week that the electrification target would be “one of the most noteworthy outcomes” of COP31, but he was concerned by continued attempts within Europe to slow efforts on emissions reduction during the energy crisis."}],[{"start":294.52,"text":"“If we do not take resolute action [on clean electrification] we risk becoming a continent of eternal unrealised potential,” he said."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":308.48,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1794296428_2958.mp3"}