COP31 Presidency Rallies Business Behind 35% Electrification Target by 2035
COP 31 Presidency Events • United NationsNovember 12, 2026
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Türkiye's COP31 presidency used the opening of the Business and Investment Summit on Nov. 12, 2026, to pitch the climate talks as an economic project. The main vehicles were a new Climate Implementation Bridge meant to turn national priorities into investable projects, and a five-point business demand list delivered to the presidency. Across three panels, finance chiefs, a big-city mayor and industrial founders returned to the same themes: private capital, cheaper electricity and a bigger role for those outside government.
- Business Forum hands COP31 presidency five demands on finance, trade, supply chains and permits
- Presidency targets 35% electrification and 15% circular materials by 2035, launches Climate Implementation Bridge
- World Bank and BBVA back "private capital mobilized" as the core metric for climate finance
- London Mayor Sadiq Khan and WBCSD's Peter Bakker push to bring cities and business into official COP decisions
- Fortescue and Octopus Energy founders say electrification already pays and call for lower power costs
The Presidency's Pitch: Climate Policy as Industrial Policy
Why it matters: The presidency is casting COP31 as an "implementation COP" that links country priorities to finance. The yardsticks it set, 35% electrification and 15% circular materials by 2035, are concrete enough for businesses, utilities and investors to plan around.
Where things stand: COP31 President-Designate Murat Kurum laid out 10 priority themes and said more than 100,000 people had registered. He presented two headline targets for 2035: 35% electrification, which panelists called "35 by 35," and 15% circular materials.
His main delivery tool is the Climate Implementation Bridge. It is designed to turn the priorities countries identify into projects that investors can finance.
Vice President of Türkiye Cevdet Yılmaz stressed the country's 2053 net zero goal and green industrialization. He also flagged the climate finance gap, the shortfall between the money pledged for climate action and the money that actually reaches projects.
The business channel: Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, President of TOBB (Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye) and COP31 Private Sector Envoy, gave the presidency a booklet of recommendations from the COP31 Business Forum. Organizers described the forum as the first COP business forum held alongside the Leaders' Summit.
The booklet makes five demands:
- Accessible financing
- Fair trade and carbon-measurement rules
- Diversified clean-tech supply chains
- Public procurement for clean products
- Common standards with faster permits
Hisarcıklıoğlu also endorsed the 35% electrification target.
Decisions and stakeholder impacts: No formal decisions were made. The key outcome was procedural: business recommendations are now formally before the presidency, giving companies a defined channel into COP31 implementation work.
Small and midsize businesses (SMEs) stand to gain most if financing and permit demands advance, since they were a stated focus of the forum. Governments are the target audience for the procurement and standards asks, because those require action by public buyers and regulators.
What's next: The recommendations now rest with the presidency. No timeline for a response was announced.
Finance Chiefs Want a New Scorecard
Why it matters: Multilateral development banks are shifting incentives toward how much private money they draw in, rather than how much they lend themselves. That change could determine which emerging-market projects get built, and how fast.
Where things stand: President of the World Bank Group Ajay Banga reported $120B in lending from the bank's own balance sheet and $112B in private capital mobilized. He said guarantees from MIGA, the bank group's political risk insurance arm, have grown.
BBVA Chairman Carlos Torres Vila joined Banga in backing private capital mobilized as a key performance indicator. Panelists named four tools that unlock private climate investment in emerging markets:
- Regulatory predictability
- Political risk insurance
- Local currency finance, which spares borrowers currency-swing losses
- First-loss structures, where a public or concessional investor absorbs initial losses to de-risk private money
The other side: Panelists agreed SMEs remain the hardest segment to reach with climate finance. The discussion also touched on artificial intelligence, though the summit produced no specific commitments on it.
Decisions and stakeholder impacts: The panel took no action. For project developers in emerging markets, the signal is clear: proposals that leverage guarantees and private co-investment are likely to align best with where development banks say they are heading. Smaller firms remain the open question.
Mayors and Business Want a Seat at the Table
Why it matters: Cities and companies have long operated on the sidelines of COP negotiations. Calls to bring these "non-state actors" into the process, and hold them accountable for progress, could reshape how future COPs work.
Where things stand: In a panel moderated by European Climate Foundation CEO Laurence Tubiana, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan argued that the 21st century belongs to cities and that cities are where climate action happens. He framed climate action as an economic case.
Khan pointed to three London initiatives:
- The city's clean air zone
- 30,000 electric vehicle charging points
- Rewilding efforts
Peter Bakker, President and CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), backed the 35 by 35 target. He identified grid queues, the backlog of projects waiting to connect to power networks, as a barrier.
Both argued that the COP action agenda, the voluntary track for cities, companies and investors, must become part of the official COP program.
The other side: The panel acknowledged tension over data centers, whose rising energy and water demands compete with electrification and local resource needs.
Decisions and stakeholder impacts: No action was taken. For city governments, the push points toward a more formal role, and more accountability, in future climate commitments. For utilities and grid operators, Bakker's focus on connection queues signals pressure to speed approvals as electrification targets rise.
Founders Say Electrification Already Pays
Why it matters: Industry voices argued the 35% target is a floor, not a ceiling, and that cost, not technology, is the main barrier.
Where things stand: Two business founders made the case for electrification:
- Forrest, founder of Fortescue, described the company's Pilbara green grid and its work on shipping powered by green ammonia.
- Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy, described smart EV charging and zero-bill homes, and called for slashing electricity costs.
Both argued that electrified renewables are already cost-competitive.
The policy ask: Jackson said grid regulation should reward utilities for carrying more electricity. Such a change would shift how network companies earn money and could affect what households and businesses pay for power.
Decisions and stakeholder impacts: The panel took no action. Consumers and energy-intensive industries stand to benefit if power prices fall. Grid operators and regulators would bear the burden of restructuring rules to reward higher electricity use.
Looking Ahead
The summit produced no votes or formal decisions. Watch how the COP31 presidency responds to the Business Forum's five demands. Also watch whether the Climate Implementation Bridge produces a first slate of investable projects, and whether the call to fold the action agenda into the official COP program gains traction.