Jakarta, April 2 2024 – Urban areas are centers of carbon-intensive activities. High population, dense buildings and intensive energy use contribute to increased greenhouse gas emissions. Climate Transparency 2022 noted that direct and indirect emissions from the building sector in Indonesia accounted for 4.6 per cent and 24.5 per cent of total energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in 2021, respectively. For this reason, the decarbonization of urban areas is one of the crucial efforts to reduce carbon emissions and create sustainable areas, by the Paris Agreement to achieve zero carbon emission targets.
The Government of Indonesia through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) in collaboration with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz/BMWK) and supported by various other ministries by the recommendations of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources agreed to support urban decarbonization efforts through the Sustainable Energy Transition in Indonesia (SETI) program. This program involves consortium members consisting of Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Indonesia, Yayasan Indonesia Cerah, Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), and WRI Indonesia.
Malindo Wardana, Program Manager of Sustainable Energy Transition in Indonesia (SETI), Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), explained that one of the important initiatives of SETI is the Urban Energy Lab. The Urban Energy Lab aims to develop a sustainable local energy ecosystem in urban areas, especially in selected cities. It aims to support a better and more sustainable built environment.
“The selection criteria for the cities that will become SETI projects include the potential for renewable energy in the region, existing sustainability programs, and the willingness of the cities to implement energy decarbonization in the building sector,” Malindo said.
Malindo in the SETI Urban Energy Lab Focus Group Discussion event held on Tuesday (2/4/2024) said, the process of determining the pilot city for the SETI program through the stage of forming a network of potential cities. Cities that are members of the potential city network will then be selected by the Directorate General of New Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (EBTKE) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources & the SETI consortium as pilot cities. These pilot cities will receive additional support in the form of matchmaking activities between building owners/managers and energy service companies, capacity building such as energy manager/energy auditor certification, integrated energy planning modeling, and energy conservation.
Coordinator of the Energy Conservation Technical Guidance and Cooperation Group, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Hendro Gunawan said that the government has revised Government Regulation (PP) No. 70 of 2009 into Government Regulation (PP) No. 33 of 2023 concerning Energy Conservation which is a concrete step by the government to regulate the use of energy that is economical, rational and wise. In this regulation, the building sector with an energy use limit of more than or equal to 500 TOE (Ton Oil Equivalent) per year is obliged to carry out energy management.
“Local governments also should implement energy management in buildings that are owned, managed and financed through the state revenue and expenditure budget (APBN) or regional revenue and expenditure budget (APBD),” Hendro said.
Hendro also mentioned the existence of rules that strengthen the authority of provincial regions in utilizing renewable energy in the regions through Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 11 of 2023 concerning Additional Concurrent Government Affairs in the Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Sector in the New Renewable Energy Sub-Sector.
He hopes that the existence of these regulations and the implementation of the SETI program will be able to support local governments in implementing energy efficiency in buildings, as well as efforts to increase the use of renewable energy in buildings, to reduce the impact of climate change and build a sustainable environment.