Jakarta, 25 June 2024 – To live up to the spirit of emission reduction declared globally through the Paris Agreement, the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) document has an important role in ensuring the achievement of the ambition to maintain the increase in earth’s temperature to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Currently, countries that are signatories to the Paris Agreement are currently being asked to review and prepare the Second NDC to be submitted to the UNFCCC Secretariat, this is also being done by Indonesia.

With Indonesia’s current NDC, (enhanced NDC) it will result in an increase in the earth’s temperature of up to 2.5 – 2.9 degrees Celsius in 2030. Agriculture, Forestry and Land Use Analyst, Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), Anindita Hapsari said that in preparing the Second NDC (SNDC) the Indonesian government included a number of new aspects to make it more in line with the 1.5-degree Celsius target.

“Several new things that will be included in the Second NDC include the 2019 baseline agreement, the addition of the maritime sector in mitigation efforts, as well as the addition of the emission substance category in the form of HFC,” said Anin at the Media Briefing: Civil Society Recommendations for the Second Nationally Determined Contribution (SNDC) Indonesia.

Anindita continued, to ensure that the Second NDC is truly in line with the Paris targets, there are at least four factors that need to be considered in the NDC preparation process, namely increasing ambition, finance and fairness, credibility and transparency. If these four factors are implemented in the NDC preparation process, it is hoped that the resulting document will be more in line with the need to limit emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement.

The energy sector, as one of the largest emission producing sectors, has received a lot of attention. On the other hand, the electricity sector is believed to be low-hanging fruit or a sector that will have high leverage when it has been decarbonized. For this reason, energy sector decarbonization strategies and action plans require precise calculations. A number of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) who are members of the Climate Justice Coalition have prepared sectoral recommendations for the preparation of Indonesia’s second NDC, one of which is the energy sector.

Akbar Bagaskara, IESR Power Sector Analyst, one of the authors of the sectoral recommendations, stated that one of the recommendations for mitigation action in the energy sector is to change the target indicator from previously being installed capacity to energy mix.

“We recommend this because the same installed capacity, for example 10 GW of solar (solar) and 10 GW of hydro, will produce different energy output, as a result the emissions produced will also be different. So, what will be the benchmark in the future is the amount of emissions reduced,” explained Akbar.

Akbar also emphasized the need to align emissions reduction targets across sectors. The energy sector emission reduction strategy will be related to the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector. So there needs to be clear boundaries for each sector in utilizing resources so that they do not harm each other.

From the AFOLU sector, there is a big opportunity to reduce emissions by creating strong legal umbrella regulations for Indonesia’s natural forests.

Yosi Amalia, Forest and Climate Program Officer, Yayasan Madani Berkelanjutan said that there are 9.7 million ha of natural forests that have not been protected by regulations, and this could be an opportunity for Indonesia to produce a stronger and more ambitious NDC.

“In addition to strong regulations for natural forests, in the AFOLU sector the government must also expand and strengthen community-based forest management,” added Yosi.

Yosi also explained that the Second NDC must be able to ensure a social and environmental safeguard framework in the energy transition, investment and carbon economic value. Through the implementation of NDC, ecological, social and economic resilience must be ensured in society.