COP31 Opens in Antalya With a ‘35 by 35’ Electrification Push as WMO Logs Four Record-Hot Years

The United Nations climate summit opened in Antalya, Türkiye, on Monday, Nov. 9, with the host government asking countries to sign up to a “35 by 35” Global Electrification Pledge and the World Meteorological Organization reporting that the past four years are the four warmest on record. The COP31 Antalya talks run through Nov. 20.

Turkey’s pledge asks countries to raise electricity’s share of final energy demand to 35% by 2035, up from roughly one-fifth today, according to Reuters and Al Jazeera. Murat Kurum, Turkey’s environment minister, is serving as COP31 president. The United States is absent from the talks for a second straight year.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell told delegates that progress on cutting emissions was “nowhere near fast enough,” Reuters reported. Climate advocates quoted by Al Jazeera welcomed the focus on electricity but noted the pledge does not require that the extra power come from low-carbon sources.

What the WMO update shows

The WMO’s State of the Climate 2026 update, released to coincide with the summit, puts the global mean near-surface temperature for January through September 2026 at 1.47°C above the 1850-1900 average, with a margin of uncertainty of plus or minus 0.13°C. That compares with 1.46°C in 2023, a record 1.55°C in 2024 and 1.43°C in 2025. The agency said 2023 through 2026 are the four warmest years in its records.

By The Boston Report’s calculation from the WMO figures, the average of the four years is about 1.48°C, close to the 1.5°C ceiling in the Paris Agreement, although that goal refers to long-term averages over decades rather than single years. The WMO also said an El Niño event is expected to become the strongest on record by December, which typically adds heat to the global average.

Other markers in the update point the same way. Carbon dioxide concentrations reached 426.8 parts per million in 2025. Glaciers lost more than 400 gigatonnes of ice in 2025. Heat waves in Europe were linked to more than 30,000 excess deaths. On the adaptation side, the WMO counted 136 countries with multi-hazard early warning systems in 2025, against 56 in 2015.

Why electrification is the host’s headline

Turkey has framed the electrification pledge as a practical target that both oil importers and producers can sign. Electricity is already the main route for cutting emissions in road transport, buildings and parts of industry, because electric motors and heat pumps use less energy than combustion for the same job. Raising its share of demand from about 20% to 35% in under a decade would require large investments in grids and generation.

That is where critics focus. A 35% share met largely by coal or gas would do far less for emissions than the same share met by wind, solar, hydro or nuclear power. Advocates quoted by Al Jazeera want language tying the pledge to clean generation, and that is likely to be one of the first tests of how many governments sign on and on what terms.

The talks also open with an unusual split in roles. As we reported last week, Australia will lead the formal negotiations at COP31 under a hosting deal with Turkey, while Ankara chairs the summit. The absence of a U.S. delegation, covered in our preview of the Antalya summit, means the largest historical emitter will not be at the table for any deal.

What to watch over the next two weeks

Three questions will shape the outcome. First, how many countries sign the electrification pledge, and whether its final wording mentions low-carbon power. Second, whether new national climate plans move emissions closer to a 1.5°C path, which Stiell’s comments suggest they do not yet do. Third, how much money flows toward adaptation for countries already hit by drought and heat, a concern raised in the run-up to the summit about El Niño drought in Pacific island states.

The WMO report gives negotiators a hard backdrop. With a strong El Niño building, 2027 could start even warmer, which would put more pressure on delegates to show results by the Nov. 20 close. Any pledge that does not specify clean power is likely to face questions from scientists and from the small island states most exposed to rising seas.

Sources

• Reuters via Investing.com: COP31 summit leaders urge world to move faster on climate
• World Meteorological Organization: State of the Climate 2026 update
• Al Jazeera: Turkiye pushes electrification to top of climate agenda as COP31 set to open