Sunday, 8 November 2026

The COP31 Presidency's "35 by 35" initiative targets raising the global electrification rate to 35% of final energy by 2035, up from just over 20% currently, according to Energy in Demand.

Meeting that target could save fossil fuel-importing countries USD 400 billion, Jean Baderschneider said, citing an estimate by the International Energy Agency (IEA), as reported by Anadolu Agency.

Baderschneider said Türkiye has an opportunity to shift from being a fossil fuel crossroads to becoming an industrial power in the electric age, Anadolu Agency reported. Investment in renewable power generation, electricity grids, energy storage, and industrial electrification could help Türkiye lead that transformation, she added.

A 27-year drought in the Southwestern U.S. - the longest dry period in 1,200 years - is seriously reducing Colorado River flows, according to Grist.

Climate change is shrinking the Rocky Mountain snowpack that supplies roughly 80% of the river's annual flow, Grist reported. Higher temperatures are causing earlier melting, which reduces late-summer and fall runoff.

Lake Powell, on the Utah-Arizona border, reached a record low last month at less than 150 feet above dead pool, the level at which water can no longer pass through Glen Canyon Dam's bypass tubes to reach Lake Mead, 300 miles downstream, according to Grist.

The prospect of still lower river levels is leading some to consider what Grist described as a once-unthinkable fix: draining Lake Powell entirely.