Guterres urges faster shift to clean electricity, warning of fossil-fuel price shocks

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged governments to speed up the shift to clean electricity, saying dependence on imported fossil fuels leaves countries exposed to price shocks and arguing that grids, energy storage and investment must expand to make the transition work.

Speaking at a high-level energy dialogue in Antalya, Türkiye, on Wednesday, Guterres said the Middle East crisis had exposed the cost of fossil-fuel dependence. Three-quarters of the world’s population live in countries that are net importers of fossil fuels, he said, and distant shocks can raise the cost of transport, running a business and food.

His remarks come as COP31, the UN climate summit in Antalya, focuses on putting existing climate commitments into practice. At a separate event the previous day, Guterres called for funded national plans to move away from fossil fuels.

Guterres welcomed a “35-by-35” global electrification pledge, but said it must be made clean. He called for more electric vehicles and heating, more industries powered by clean electricity, and delivery of global goals to triple renewable energy capacity and double energy-efficiency improvements by 2030.

He also warned that new oil and gas projects and import terminals could lock countries into high costs and assets that lose value as energy systems change. To connect more renewable power, he called for modernised electricity grids, more storage, faster connections and cross-border links.

About 3,000 gigawatts of renewable and storage projects are waiting for grid connections, Guterres said — four times the wind and solar capacity connected worldwide last year. The queue grew by 60 per cent in one year, he added.

A third priority, he said, is making clean electricity affordable and extending access to people still without power. Emerging and developing economies outside China receive about $1 of every $5 invested in clean energy, while many face borrowing costs two to three times those of advanced economies, he said.

Guterres urged shareholders of multilateral development banks to provide more resources and allow the institutions to take greater risks, with more guarantees and concessional finance. He said investment should also help lower household bills, build clean industries and support workers through the transition.

He called on countries to set out what they would electrify, how they would power it cleanly and how they would finance the work. The UN statement records his remarks, not commitments agreed by governments at the dialogue.