Electrification: Where Climate Progress Meets Business Reality

Electrification is reshaping how businesses approach sustainability, efficiency and competitiveness. But turning its potential into tangible results requires more than adopting new technologies. Güneş Gözen, Sustainable Finance Principal Manager at Garanti BBVA, explores the opportunities and challenges across key sectors and explains why infrastructure, investment and financing must advance together to deliver lasting value.

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Electrification is increasingly a business strategy, not simply an environmental measure. Replacing fossil-fuelled systems with efficient electric technologies can give companies greater control over energy use, reduce exposure to fuel-price volatility and support a more competitive operating model. Yet the question for decision-makers is not just whether a technology can run on electricity. It is whether that choice creates lasting economic and environmental value.

Türkiye’s COP31 Presidency has brought this discussion into sharper focus through the 35-by-35 Global Electrification Pledge, which aims to increase electricity’s share of global final energy consumption to 35% by 2035. The ambition creates an important reference point, but results will depend on what happens beyond international commitments, as explained in the official COP31 announcement.

For an industrial economy such as Türkiye, the priority is ensuring that cleaner electricity, reliable networks and business investment advance together, strengthening both energy resilience and export competitiveness.

 

Turning electrification into business value

In manufacturing, there is no single pathway. Some processes can adopt electric boilers, industrial heat pumps or furnaces relatively quickly; others require major redesign, new skills or power infrastructure. Businesses should therefore start with the applications where energy savings and emissions reductions can be demonstrated, then assess the full cost of implementation. The price of electricity, grid availability and the useful life of existing equipment can be just as decisive as the performance of the new technology.

Buildings offer substantial opportunities, but also illustrate the importance of customer experience. Efficient heating and cooling, better insulation and intelligent controls can work together to lower consumption. However, owners must navigate technical choices, upfront expenditure and uncertain payback periods. Making upgrades easier to understand and finance could unlock progress that technology availability alone has not delivered.

In road transport, operational requirements are equally important. Commercial fleets cannot depend on vehicle availability alone: charging speeds, depot connections and reliable access along major routes must fit real delivery schedules. This calls for cooperation between logistics operators, charging providers, electricity distributors and local authorities. The best infrastructure investments will be those designed around actual use, not simply the number of charging points installed.

 

From immediate solutions to long-term innovation

Aviation offers a particularly useful perspective because different activities require different solutions. Airports can make meaningful near-term progress through electric ground-support vehicles, fixed ground-power systems and more efficient terminal operations. Electrifying large passenger aircraft, however, remains constrained by battery weight and energy density. Hybrid-electric designs may serve selected applications as technologies mature, while electricity-derived aviation fuels could help address emissions from existing aircraft fleets. Their climate value will depend on the carbon intensity of the electricity and the credibility of the fuel's production chain. The sector therefore needs both solutions it can implement today and investment in longer-term innovation.

Across all these sectors, the success of electrification will depend on the readiness of energy systems. Accelerating grid modernization will be essential to expanding network capacity, integrating renewable energy and ensuring reliable electricity supply as demand grows. These investments will be critical to preventing infrastructure constraints from slowing the transition.

 

Financing a competitive low-carbon transition

Finance has a role in bringing these pieces together. Strong projects require credible business cases, transparent environmental outcomes and a clear understanding of execution risks. Banks can help companies assess investment options, structure funding around realistic cash flows and support infrastructure that enables multiple businesses to decarbonise. In my view, this early dialogue is as important as the financing itself: the sooner technical, commercial and financial decisions are aligned, the greater the chance of moving from a promising proposal to a viable project.

At Garanti BBVA, we support Türkiye's low-carbon transition through financing for renewable energy and energy efficiency, alongside solutions that help clients pursue their transformation plans. Our focus is on connecting sustainability ambitions with investments that make commercial sense. Electrification will fulfil its promise when it becomes not only a route to lower emissions, but a practical source of productivity, resilience and long-term growth.