Turkey's COP31 pushes 35-by-35 electrification goal amid mining warnings

The Turkish presidency of the COP31 climate summit has put electrification at the centre of this year's talks, with a pledge to raise electricity's share of global energy use from 21 percent to 35 percent by 2035. Turkey holds the presidency and Australia leads the negotiations, according to the account of the summit carried by Audacy.

COP31 President Murat Kurum, who is also Turkey's environment minister, said the target translates earlier summit promises into changes people notice. "This transition brings together renewable energy, strong grids, storage capacity, energy efficiency, clean transport and green industry. Each supports the others," Kurum said. He listed buildings that use less energy, clean public transport, affordable power and new jobs as the results he wants voters to feel.

The pledge builds on COP28, where countries agreed to work toward tripling renewable energy capacity and moving away from fossil fuels, and on COP29, which focused on energy storage, grid modernisation and climate finance.

Environmental campaigners point out that the target does not require the electricity to come from renewable sources, so power generated from coal and other fossil fuels could count toward it.

More than 120 international civil society groups signed an open letter to the two presidencies setting out conditions for the 35-by-35 goal, including protection of ecosystems, binding human rights and environmental due diligence, and protection of Indigenous peoples. "The transition must not repeat the harms of the fossil fuel era or replace one dependency with another," the letter said.

Demand for the metals used in wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicle batteries and high-speed rail has been rising for years, according to the International Energy Agency, and countries are also exploring deep-sea mining to secure supplies. The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre recorded more than 300 human rights allegations linked to transition mineral mining in 2025, up 73 percent from the previous year, according to the report.

"If mining is going to ramp up without proper protections in place, I think we can probably expect to see some of these problems ramp up as well," said Emily Iona Stewart, head of policy and advocacy at Global Witness.

The IEA estimates that scaling up recycling could cut the need for new mining by 25 to 40 percent by 2050, though most countries lack the waste management programmes and regulations that would make it work. Rights experts also said the official negotiations and main COP31 talking points contain no explicit language on critical minerals and mining.

"If we want to do good by communities, bringing electricity to communities who don't have it right now is a basic human need and right," said Aimee Boulanger, executive director of the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance. "But we can't do good by some communities by doing inherent harm against others where the raw materials are extracted."

The COP31 presidencies did not respond to requests for comment, the report said.