The Electrification Opportunity: Delivering Energy Security, Development and Climate Action in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies
The Electrification Opportunity shows that the 35-by-35 objective is achievable as a collective ambition. For emerging markets and developing economies, its value will come from pursuing it as a development opportunity as well as a climate goal.
Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) prepared the report in collaboration with the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) as a contribution to the COP31 Action Agenda on electrification. It finds that countries that plan for electrification deliberately, align it with their growth, security and access priorities and mobilize the finance and institutions to deliver it will benefit most. Those that treat it as a downstream outcome risk locking in fossil-fuel infrastructure for decades.
The report offers governments and their partners a practical evidence base and a set of enabling conditions to turn the global electrification objective into national action.
Key messages
- Technologies available today can already electrify approximately 75% of global final energy demand across transport, buildings and industry.
- The 35-by-35 Global Electrification Pledge is achievable but needs to take into account differentiated national pathways corresponding to national circumstances, economic structure and starting points.
- The report highlights that global electricity demand in emerging markets and developing economies will advance through three distinct mechanisms:
- The first is capturing new and improved electricity access to unserved and underserved populations, delivered through grid connections, mini-grids and standalone systems.
- The second is fuel-switching from existing fuels to electric alternatives, which will see an increase in electricity consumption while reducing total final energy consumption.
- The third is new electric demand created by growth, rising incomes, urbanization, industry or newly viable productive uses.
