Electricity could supply 85% of Türkiye's final energy consumption using technologies available today, according to a report published Tuesday by a leading industry think tank.

The analysis was published ahead of the U.N. climate conference COP31, which Türkiye hosts in the Mediterranean resort province of Antalya next month.

At the summit, Türkiye will seek to rally support for a global target for electricity to meet 35% of the world's energy demand by 2035.

The target is said to offer an opportunity to extend the progress achieved in clean electricity generation over the past decade to buildings, transport and industry.

Electricity made up 22% of Türkiye's final energy consumption in 2024, Ember said. That is close to the global average of 23% and the European Union average. It is above the Middle East average of 20% and Africa's 12%, but behind Asia, where electrification has accelerated to an average of 28%.

"In Türkiye, around 85% of final energy demand could be met by electric technologies already in use today,” said Ember.

By sector, electricity accounted for about 32% of energy use in buildings and about 30% in industry in 2024, the report said. In transportation, the electrification rate is below 1%, although Türkiye became Europe's fourth-largest market for electric cars in 2025 with 190,000 sales.

"The greatest electrification potential therefore lies in transport and buildings, where electric alternatives are technologically mature and energy consumption is high,” Ember said.

Existing technologies already make it possible in Türkiye to electrify 100% of energy use in buildings, 96% of transport and 58% of industrial energy consumption, according to the report.

Electric vehicles, heat pumps and electric industrial technologies can provide the same services using significantly less energy than fossil-fuel-based alternatives, it said, adding that electrification would directly strengthen energy security by reducing energy imports.

Need to accelerate electrification

Türkiye has made significant progress in clean electricity generation over the past decade, increasing the share of solar and wind power in electricity generation from 4.5% to 22%.

However, faster electrification is needed to extend these gains to energy consumption.

Türkiye's electrification rate increased by 1.3 percentage points over the past 11 years, meaning progress must be 10 times faster over the next 11 years to reach the 35% target by 2035, the report said.

The main reason for the slow pace of electrification is that much of the sevenfold increase in electricity demand since 1990 has stemmed from new energy needs rather than the replacement of fossil fuels.

As a result, fossil fuels have maintained a 70% share of final energy consumption for the past 34 years.

If current trends continue, Türkiye's electrification rate will reach only 24% by 2035, Ember said.

However, the country's target of tripling its installed solar and wind capacity, along with its 120-gigawatt rooftop solar potential, provides a strong basis for achieving the electrification goal.

"Türkiye has made significant progress in renewable electricity generation in recent years and established a strong foundation for the clean electricity needed for electrification," said Bahadır Sercan Gümüş, a senior energy analyst at Ember and author of the report.

"The 35% target is achievable, but this requires sector-specific measures to shift services currently provided by fossil fuels to electricity, alongside increasing clean electricity generation. For this success in generation to extend across the economy, electricity must replace fossil fuels in buildings, transport and industry," Gümüş said.

Because of the efficiency advantages of electric technologies, each one-percentage-point increase in Türkiye's national electrification rate is equivalent to adding 5.7 million electric cars or switching 2.5 million households from fossil-fuel heating to heat pumps, the report said.

Achieving the target will therefore require the transition to advance simultaneously across sectors and be translated into concrete sectoral road maps.

In buildings, switching residential heating to heat pumps stands out as one of the most significant measures, with the potential to increase the national electrification rate by 11 percentage points on its own.