A television debate aired on 12 November 2026 took up the question behind the un climate summit now hosted by Turkey: the COP31 Turkey electrification agenda - and whether global electrification can deliver on warming for India.

A debate framed by a hot, expensive year

The episode set its stage in a difficult year. It pointed to last summer's record heat, to war in the Gulf driving up fuel and store prices, and to an El Nino year in which the whole planet is exposed to extreme weather. It also recalled students left angry in June after enduring overheated classrooms and what it called baking shoebox apartments.

Turkey's COP31 pitch for electrification

Against that backdrop, the hosts of the annual UN climate summit in Turkey tout a remedy that would turbo-charge the electrification of the planet. The programme's central question follows from that COP31 Turkey electrification pitch: will it work for the likes of India, whose carbon footprint is growing alongside its economy and its population?

Delhi's smog and China's early-2000s mirror

The debate draws one comparison in particular for India's capital:

• •Delhi's seasonal smog is compared with the China of the early 2000s
• •The episode asks what lessons Delhi can learn from China's energy transition

The programme

The episode, titled 'Plugged-in planet? COP31 host Turkey leads charge for electrification', is part of France 24's programme The Debate. It was produced by François Picard, Théophile Vareille, Juliette Laffont and Charles Wente.

The episode leaves the question open of whether electrification will work for India, whose carbon footprint continues to grow alongside its economy and population.