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Home Energy Energy-General Haley Zaremba Haley Zaremba is an energy journalist and researcher with more than a decade of professional experience covering global energy systems, land and natural resources, and... More Info Set us as your preferred Google source Premium Content By Haley Zaremba - Sep 24, 2026, 4:00 PM CDT The IEA now projects 33% global electrification by 2035, up from 23% today, driven largely by the Hormuz-fueled energy price crisis. COP31 negotiators in Antalya will push a formal “35 by ’35” pledge, tied to the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C pathway.
Faster electrification could save the world more than $400 billion in fossil fuel imports by 2035, per IEA estimates. The energy crisis caused by the United States and Israel’s war in Iran could be just what the world needed to achieve 35 percent electrification by 2035. This goal, “35 by ‘35” has emerged as a key platform of the upcoming COP31 United Nations climate conference, to be held in Antalya, Türkiye, from November 9 to 20, 2026.
And experts say that a number of factors, including volatile oil and gas markets stemming from the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz, have put that goal within “striking distance.” A new analytical report from the International Energy Agency finds that electricity could feasibly and cost-effectively account for 33 percent of the world’s final energy consumption by 2035. Today, electricity meets 23 percent of that consumption. This marks a considerable rate of increase, but one that is within reach, especially when you consider that demand for electricity has outpaced overall energy demand twofold, growing by more than 3 percent year over year between 2015 and 2025.
An International Energy Agency news piece accompanying the release of the report notes that “As the world enters the Age of Electricity, this shift can bring major benefits for economic competitiveness, energy security and energy transitions – although ensuring electricity remains secure and affordable will become increasingly important as its use expands.” To this point, the projections in the report are based on pre-war electricity prices, indicating that world leaders expect current price hikes to cool off. This analysis was commissioned by Türkiye and Australia in anticipation of the coming COP31 climate conference, the world’s highest-level meeting on the subject. The findings will serve as the basis of a proposed pledge to target 35 percent electrification by 2035, up from the 33 percent that the world is currently on track to achieve without the increased effort that the proposal calls for.
This targeted threshold comes from previous projections stemming from the Paris Agreement, which show that limiting global warming to 1.5°C over pre-industrial averages will require that the world achieve 35 percent electrification by 2035 and exceed 50 percent by 2050. The global energy price crisis that has sent markets into turmoil since February has catalyzed electrification around the world as countries that rely on fossil fuel imports scramble to wean themselves off of this dependency and build up indigenous energy resources. From nuclear to solar, this new energy expansion is causing a considerable boost in electrification for many countries around the world, with a doubly beneficial outcome for both climate and national economies.
Rooftop solar is going gangbusters in Southeast Asia as a result of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, with countries including the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Malaysia as locals look for alternative energy solutions amid market fluctuations. Renewables are increasingly proving themselves to be a more dependable, less geopolitically risky option for emerging economies. “Wind and solar cannot be embargoed, blockaded, or shut off by a foreign power,” David Frykman, General Partner at Stockholm-based venture capital group Norrsken, wrote in an op-ed for Fortune earlier this year.
“Every terawatt-hour of domestic renewable generation is a terawatt-hour that no adversary can weaponize.” While the war in Iran has catalyzed this development, the developing world was already embracing electrification, boosted by a flood of cheap clean energy tech out of China. Over the last several years, developing countries including Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Morocco, Kenya, and Namibia have overtaken the United States – the world’s largest economy – in their clean energy transitions. At the end of 2025, 63 percent of emerging markets in Africa, Asia, and Latin America sourced more of their power generation from solar power than the United States.
A rapid expansion of energy production, including through electrification and clean energy, is urgently needed to meet rapid demand growth in the developing world in the coming decades. According to a new report from S&P Global, emerging economies could increase the world’s total energy demand by more than 60 percent by 2060 – or roughly as much as adding another China to the world’s consumption numbers. While electrification cannot totally meet this massive energy demand growth, it can significantly reduce nations’ oil and gas imports and save countries billions in the process.
The International Energy Agency estimates that, if countries meaningfully speed up electrification, they could collectively save more than $400 billion in the run-up to 2035, all while helping to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com U.S. to Back Argentina’s First LNG Export Project With $6 Billion Loan Just One Commodity Vessel Left the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday U.S. Invites Putin To G20 Summit In Miami Download The Free Oilprice App Today Back to homepage Haley Zaremba Haley Zaremba is an energy journalist and researcher with more than a decade of professional experience covering global energy systems, land and natural resources, and...
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