Indonesia’s Emission Reduction Ambition Needs to Increase

press release

Jakarta, December 4, 2023 – The Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) hopes the United Nations Climate Summit (Conference of the Parties, COP-28) will strengthen the commitment of all countries, including Indonesia, to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. According to the results of the Global Stocktake, the promise and realization of emission reductions are still far from achieving the Paris Agreement target. Therefore, after COP-28, all countries must review their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and set more ambitious targets for mitigating the climate crisis.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), in his remarks at COP-28, said that Indonesia is committed to achieving net zero emission (NZE) in 2060 or earlier. Jokowi hopes that COP-28 will foster inclusive cooperation and collaboration to support the achievement of Net Zero Emissions (NZE). He explained that Indonesia is accelerating the energy transition by developing renewable energy and reducing the use of coal-fired power plants. Achieving the 2060 NZE target requires more than USD 1 trillion in financing. He invited more collaboration and investment to support low-interest energy transition financing. He believes solving the energy transition financing problem is a way to solve the world’s problems.

The Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) believes having supportive policies to facilitate large investments in energy transition is crucial. As per the Paris Agreement, Indonesia needs to implement more ambitious policies and commitments as time is running out to limit the earth’s temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

Based on the UNFCCC Global Stocktake discussion report for 2023, the responsibilities of countries listed in their NDCs are not aligned with the Paris Agreement. This misalignment will make it difficult to achieve the goal of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by 43 percent by 2030 from 2010 levels, 60 percent by 2035, and zero emissions by 2050. Moreover, the NDC target submitted at COP27 indicates that the earth’s temperature in 2050 will likely exceed the Paris Agreement target.

“Indonesia needs to submit a more ambitious target for reducing emissions and increasing its resilience to climate change in the Second NDC (SNDC), which is scheduled to be introduced in 2025. To align with the 1.5°C target, the maximum emission level for all sectors in 2030 should be 850 million tons. In the electricity sector, the energy transition is characterized by a target of 44% renewable energy mix in 2030. However, even if the renewable energy mix target is achieved, it will not be sufficient to bring electricity sector emissions below 200 million tons of CO2 by the 1.5°C pathway. Therefore, in addition to increasing the use of renewable energy, there is still a need to strengthen the power sector’s capacity,” said Fabby Tumiwa, the Executive Director of IESR. 

By 2025, Indonesia needs to increase its ambition in the Enhanced NDC, which currently only aims for an emission reduction target of 31.89% with its efforts (unconditional) and 43.2% with international assistance (conditional) by 2030. This target is made by comparing business as usual (BAU) 2010 projections. Meanwhile, IESR, using points from 2020 emissions data, found that Indonesia could set an unconditional NDC target of 26% by 2030. This increase is higher than the current target. It aims to keep the Indonesian government setting a more relevant climate ambition target in line with the Paris Agreement’s target of no more than 1.5°C of global warming.

 

“There are many opportunities for Indonesia to improve its renewable energy mix target by the Paris Agreement. For example, by aligning the preparation of the SNDC with the NDC principles in Article 4 Line 13 of the Paris Agreement, namely promoting environmental integrity, transparency, accuracy, wholeness, comparability, consistency, and ensuring avoidance of double counting, using feasible methods to achieve decarbonization efforts, and accelerating decarbonization out of fossil fuel use,” said Wira A Swadana, Green Economy Program Manager, IESR.

Wira added that Indonesia needs to attract international support, collaborate on technology and knowledge, and encourage renewable energy development to implement the key findings of the Technical Dialogue of the first GST, particularly in climate mitigation. Notably, at COP-28, there is a call to triple the renewable energy target to 11 TW by 2030.

He mentioned that Indonesia has the opportunity to enhance collaboration and strengthen cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Masdar, a company from the UAE, has played a significant role in constructing the Cirata floating solar power plant and has invested in the geothermal energy sector. Additionally, Masdar is a strategic investor in the initial public offering (IPO) of PT Pertamina Geothermal Tbk (PGEO) in February 2023.

“Cooperation between Indonesia and other countries, including the UAE, can help Indonesia’s decarbonization efforts to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. Indonesia has established climate cooperation through mechanisms like JETP and various bilateral agreements. However, gaps still need to be addressed to encourage more ambitious climate mitigation and adaptation efforts. Specifically, there is a need for increased funding and capacity building,” Wira explained.

A Glimpse of Global Stocktake can be found here

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Indonesia’s Energy Transformation to Zero Emission

Fabby Tumiwa dalam acara Green Press Community 2023 pada Rabu (8/11/2023).

Jakarta, November 8, 2023 – The global climate crisis is humanity’s biggest challenge in the 21st century. The increase in global temperatures caused by greenhouse gas emissions is causing severe impacts such as extreme weather, increased extreme temperatures, rising sea levels, and harm to ecosystems. Indonesia, as one of the signatories of the Paris Agreement, has committed to reducing emissions. Indonesia has also submitted an Enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) document by increasing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction target by about 2%. Previously in the Updated NDC, the unconditional emission reduction target was 29% to 31.89% by 2030, and with international assistance (conditional) it rose from 41% to 43.2%.

Reflecting on Indonesia’s latest ENDC, Executive Director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), Fabby Tumiwa, explained that Indonesia’s climate target is not compatible with the ambition of the Paris Agreement to maintain the earth’s temperature rise at a level of 1.5C, and does not reflect the urgency of avoiding climate change whose impacts are now sweeping across the world.

“Based on the assessment conducted by Climate Action Tracker (CAT), Indonesia’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction target is considered highly insufficient, leading to 2.4ºC. To be compatible, Indonesia’s GHG emissions must reach 850 MtCO2 in 2030 and NZE in 2050-2060. To do this, we need to reduce emissions in the energy sector more ambitiously,” explained Fabby Tumiwa at the Green Press Community 2023 event on Wednesday (8/11/2023). 

 

Fabby said that accelerating the use of renewable energy plays a key role in reducing GHG emissions. Based on an IESR study titled Beyond 443 GW Indonesia’s Infinite Renewable Energy Potentials, the technical potential of renewable energy in Indonesia reaches nearly 8,000 GW, with solar energy having the largest potential of around 6,700-7,700 GW. However, the energy transition requires regulatory, techno-economic, investment, and social support.

 

“This huge potential, if utilized optimally, will be able to meet all energy needs in Indonesia. IESR has projected that the country will require 1600 GW of energy capacity by 2050. However, this requirement can be met through 100% renewable energy sources, ultimately leading to zero emissions by 2050,” said Fabby Tumiwa. 

 

The energy transition can increase renewable energy capacity and create new opportunities and an equitable and inclusive energy transformation. Moreover, decarbonization and renewable energy technologies have become cheaper and more affordable. For this reason, Fabby encourages the government to immediately make a more ambitious plan to prevent the climate crisis in Indonesia.

Energy Conservation Actions Still Become Homework for Indonesia’s Decarbonization

Jakarta, 12 October 2023 – Energy conservation is one of the decarbonization efforts that can be carried out with minimal costs and relatively less effort than building new power plants. Unfortunately, this effort is still the second priority in Indonesia’s decarbonization agenda.

In order to encourage the acceleration of energy conservation actions, the government issued Government Regulation no. 33 of 2023 which regulates energy conservation in various sectors. Tavip Rubiyanto, Head of ESDM Subdivision, Directorate of Synchronization of Regional Government Affairs I, Directorate General of Regional Development, Ministry of Home Affairs, explained that Indonesia’s energy needs will continue to increase along with the increase in population and per capita economic growth.

According to him, the Indonesian government has made an international commitment to limit the release of greenhouse gasses and continue to increase renewable energy capacity. However, this plan is still hampered by the large initial investment.

“In PP 33/2023, we give a mandate to local governments, business entities, communities and the private sector to take part in energy conservation actions,” said Tavip in a focused group discussion held by the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) on Thursday, October 12th 2023.

Tavip added that the regulation of authority for regional governments is expected to provide sufficient space for regional governments to propose and implement energy conservation programs.

Coordinator of the Technical Guidance and Energy Conservation Cooperation Group, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Hendro Gunawan, explained that it is important for an entity to carry out energy management.

“For the private and industrial sectors, we have even reached certification such as ISO 50001 (industrial management) because apart from improving branding, it is also a kind of requirement to continue to exist in the industry,” said Hendro.

Regarding the basis for implementing energy management which is still voluntary, Iwan Prijanto, chairperson of the Green Building Council Indonesia (GBCI), emphasized the importance of incentive schemes for building owners who will carry out green building certification. Especially for office building owners as the highest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.

“I actually feel sad, because the first building was certified in 2011, and additions are very slow. “The absence of incentives or disincentives for building owners is one of the reasons for the slow growth of green buildings,” explained Iwan.

Dyah Perwitasari, Junior Planner at the Ministry of Bappenas, who was present at the discussion, also highlighted the standards for successful energy conservation that need to be considered together.

“Apart from achieving standards that we need to think about again, communication or outreach about energy savings to the public is also very important, for example energy saving label indicators on electronic devices used in the household,” he said.

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