Climate Transparency Report 2021: Real Climate Change Impacts, Indonesia Needs to Increase its Climate Action

Jakarta, 28 October 2021 – A few days before COP 26 in Glasgow, the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) launched the Climate Transparency Report, Country Profile of Indonesia 2021. In particular, this annual report on climate action by the G20 countries, highlights Indonesia’s climate action. which includes adaptation, mitigation and financial mobilization to address climate change.

IESR Executive Director, Fabby Tumiwa, in his speech said that the launch of the Climate Transparency report is very relevant to COP26 because this report measures whether Indonesia’s climate action achievements are in line with the Paris Agreement targets or not.

“We only have less than a decade left to ensure a global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius. Indonesia is also highlighted because we are a member of the G20, also because Indonesia is ranked in the top 10 largest emitting countries in the world, “explained Fabby.

For this reason, according to Emil Salim, Professor of the Faculty of Economics at UI who is also an environmentalist, policy makers in Indonesia need to establish political policies that are able to reduce carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 for the survival of future generations.

“The fate of the younger generation in 2050 depends on the political decisions we make now. Don’t just think about the current economic benefits, because it’s the younger generation who will bear the consequences of the choices they don’t make. Think about what will happen to the Indonesian people if the impact of climate change gets worse,” said Emil Salim.

Presenting the report on Indonesia’s climate action, Lisa Wijayani, Green Economy Program Manager, IESR underlined that Indonesia’s climate action is categorized as “highly insufficient” in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The use of fossil energy reaches 82% in 2020 making the energy sector the largest contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Indonesia (45.7% in addition to emissions from forests and land use).

Based on the findings of Climate Transparency, Lisa explained that 2020 should be the peak of coal use and from 2030-2040 its use should be gradually reduced until it is no longer used. 

“In addition, to reduce emissions from the transportation sector, Indonesia must increase the use of renewable energy by 40-60% in 2040 or 70-90% in 2050,” explained Lisa regarding the second largest emitting sub-sector;  transportation.

The Climate Transparency report also encourages ecosystems that support the development of renewable energy, including by halting subsidies on fossil energy.

“Removal of subsidies will help renewable energy compete with fossil energy,” added Lisa.

In terms of the impact of climate change on health, Budi Haryanto, Epidemiologist at the University of Indonesia, explained the high mortality rate due to the increase in the earth’s temperature.

“It is estimated that in 2030-2050, climate change will cause an additional million deaths per year due to malnutrition, malaria, and stress due to heat waves,” he explained.

Furthermore, Budi encourages the government, especially the Ministry of Health to have health data related to climate change adaptation.

In frequency, climate-related disasters are increasing. This was conveyed by Raditya Jati, Deputy of System and Strategy, National Disaster Management Agency. He added that Indonesia as an archipelagic country has a fairly high risk of natural disasters.

“7 out of 10 disasters that occur are hydrometeorological disasters and the frequency this year is higher than 2020,” said Raditya.

In order to significantly reduce GHG emissions, transformation also needs to be carried out in the economic sector, by shifting to a green economy. Eka Chandra Buana, Director of Macroeconomic Planning and Statistical Analysis, Bappenas said that the green economy is a game changer for the Indonesian economy after Covid-19. According to him, low-carbon development by utilizing renewable energy will be the backbone to achieve Indonesia’s green economy targets and net-zero emissions by 2060.

“Based on our calculation, to achieve net-zero in 2060, Indonesia must increase the use of new and renewable energy to 70% in 2050, and 87% in 2060. This calculation is still in process,” said Eka Chandra. 

The success of low-carbon development certainly requires the participation of all parties, especially the city government. Bernardia Tjandradewi, Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific (UCLG ASPAC) said that the responsibility of city governments is vital, especially statistically, 60-80% of greenhouse gas emissions in the world are generated in urban areas.

 

“UCLG ASPAC encourages the role of regional heads (mayors) in dealing with climate change by providing training to city governments on climate action planning, access to climate-related finance, and the adoption and development of monitoring tools,” explained Bernardia.

 

Whatever the solution to reducing GHG emissions, including transitioning energy to renewable energy, it must be done fairly. Desi Ayu Pirnasari, Researcher at the University of Leeds, emphasized that an equitable transition will shape climate resilience and social inclusion in society.

 

“The strategy should prioritize community participation to increase ownership on our agenda, to help us achieve our targets. Climate justice is not only about mitigation or action, but also to improve the living standards of vulnerable people,” she stressed.

IESR: Beware of Emissions in the Energy Sector, Special Strategies Are Needed to Reduce Emissions

Jakarta, 21 October 2021 – In the 26th Conference of Parties to be held in Glasgow on 31 October – 10 November 2021, the Government of Indonesia carries four main agendas, namely NDC Implementation, Fulfillment/Completion of the Paris Rule Book, Long Term Strategy 2050, and Net-Zero Emission goal.

On this occasion, Indonesia will highlight the reduced rate of deforestation in the last 5 years and efforts to restore peatlands. In addition, efforts to reduce emissions in the energy sector will also be discussed, such as providing a larger portion of renewable energy in the Electricity Supply Business Plan (RUPTL).

Hari Prabowo, Director of Development, Economy and Environment, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the webinar entitled “The Road to COP26 A Climate Superpower Indonesia; Collaborative Efforts to Tackle Climate Crisis” organized by Katadata and Landscape Indonesia, explained that Indonesia will bring a positive and openness to take part in efforts to control climate change.

“Basically, Indonesia is ready to be part of the solution and will be leading by example. We have good achievements in the forestry sector and continue to strive to reduce emissions in various fields,” he explained.

Hari Prabowo emphasized that in overcoming the climate crisis it is time for us to avoid naming and shaming, i.e feeling that our country is better at dealing with climate change than other countries.

“We must show the initiative to play a role in tackling climate change without blaming which party should be more responsible. This climate change requires the collaboration of all parties to ensure that our big goals are achieved,” he concluded.

On the other hand, on the same occasion, the Executive Director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), Fabby Tumiwa stated that Indonesia should be more ambitious in setting targets for climate control and emission reduction.

“If we look at the latest NDC document that was submitted to the UNFCCC, Indonesia’s main target for the energy sector is still not ambitious. To suppress the increase in the earth’s temperature to only 1.5 degrees, in 2030 IESR calculates that 70% of the power generation mix must be from renewable energy, if we look at the NDC or other plans such as the RUPTL, it seems that this target has not been achieved, “said Fabby. 

Fabby agreed that the forestry and land use change (AFOLU) sector as the largest emitter (60%) in Indonesia is a priority sector to reduce emissions. However, other sectors such as energy are predicted to produce greater emissions than the AFOLU after 2024-2025, and by 2030 will become the dominant emission source in Indonesia, thus it requires special attention and strategies for reducing emissions in the energy sector.

Fabby also mentioned that the financial need for climate management is huge. In the energy sector alone, it takes USD 30-40 billion per year until 2030. The next period, 2030-2050 investment needs will increase to USD 50-60 billion per year. Indonesia must pursue the commitment of developed countries to provide financial assistance for the climate crisis to developing countries.

Dharsono Hartono, President Director of Rimba Makmur Utama, added that Indonesia has a strategic role in climate crisis control diplomacy. According to him, as a country that has a large tropical rain forest and the largest peatland area, Indonesia’s responsibility in maintaining the increase in the earth’s temperature is very crucial.

“Without Indonesia contributing to global efforts to tackle climate change, the target of the Paris Agreement will not be achieved,” said Dharsono. 

Climate Change: An all aspects of life crisis requires all parties participation

Jakarta, 19 October 2021 – Two weeks before the Conference of the Parties (COP) 26 in Glasgow, climate issues are widely discussed in Indonesia, one of which is to raise public voices and provide input to the Indonesian government, which is planned to be attended by President Joko Widodo to increase Indonesia’s climate ambitions.

Indonesia has renewed its climate commitments through the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) document which is complemented by the LTS-LCCR (Long Term Strategy – Low Carbon Climate Resilience) document. In terms of numbers, Indonesia did not raise its ambition any further, namely to stay at 29% with its own efforts and 41% with international assistance. Indonesia is also committed to becoming net-zero emissions by 2060 or sooner. Unfortunately, this effort is not enough to bring Indonesia to keep the earth’s average temperature increase of no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

In a webinar entitled “Towards COP26: Climate change and the role of the public in preserving the earth”, Fabby Tumiwa, Executive Director of the Institute of Essential Services Reform (IESR) explained that since the 1880s Indonesia has always been included in the top 10 largest emitting countries (Carbon Brief).

“We should see this responsibility to reduce emissions not as a burden but also as an opportunity to carry out a low-carbon economic transformation. The results of the IESR study show that decarbonization in 2050 will actually bring greater economic benefits, because in addition to creating new industrial opportunities and greater employment, Indonesia’s energy prices will be more affordable as well as social and economic benefits that can be felt such as cleaner air and reduce the threat of hydrometeorological disasters due to climate change,” explained Fabby.

Muhamad Ali Yusuf, Chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Disaster Management and Climate Change Institute, explained that in terms of religious-based community organizations communicating the issue of climate change is challenging because the public in general will care about the problems that are in front of their eyes, so we need down to earths and contextual way to talk about climate change in the community.

“On the other hand, our religious discourse is still far from ecological issues such as climate change. Even if it already exists, it has not become a priority issue. So actually literacy on climate change is also necessary for religious leaders,” he explained.

Executive Secretary for Witness and Integrity of Creation, Communion of Indonesian Churches (PGI), Pastor Jimmy Sormin added that religious leaders and figures have a strategic role to influence the views and behavior of the people and have a significant impact on influencing people’s mindsets and perspectives.

“So you must be creative to convey climate change,” explained Pastor Jimmy.

Information on climate change must be disseminated to the wider community without exception, because when the impacts of climate change such as hydrometeorological disasters appear, all residents will be affected.

Mike Verawati, Secretary General, Indonesian Women’s Coalition, explained that women are the ones most affected by climate change because our policies and systems are not inclusive. Citizens’ needs are seen as neutral needs.

“Climate, infrastructure, and nature issues are usually considered as big narratives or masculine issues, so in the end this issue is considered not a women’s issue even though they know the details and are actively advocating, even though sometimes they can’t explain it scientifically,” explained Mike.

Not only women but young people also need to be involved in policy-making efforts to tackle climate change. As the generation that will live in the future, it is these young people who will bear the impact of the climate crisis that is not taken seriously in the future.

“The Indonesian government already has a commitment to reduce emissions, become net-zero by 2060, and overcome the climate crisis. However, this commitment is not enough to overcome this climate crisis, several policy products issued by the government such as the Minerba Law, Food Estate, and the Omnibus Law are counter-productive to efforts to tackle the climate crisis,” explained Melissa Kowara, Extinction Rebellion Indonesia’s Activist.

Melissa also highlighted the lack of literacy about climate change for the wider community. This makes people seem silent or passive because they do not understand the context.

Anticipating rising emissions, Indonesia climate action is considered highly insufficient

Jakarta, 28 Oktober 2021– Indonesia has updated its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) document. However, Indonesia’s target to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 is assessed as “highly insufficient”. This shows that Indonesia’s climate policies and actions are still leading to increased emissions. To be compatible with the Paris Agreement, Indonesia needs to set more ambitious targets and policies, notably in sectors that contribute to increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and boost the flow of international climate-related finance.

Throughout 2019, the energy sector was still the largest contributor to GHG emissions (45.7% except for the FOLU or forest and land-use sector). The power generation sub-sector is responsible for 35% of GHG emissions, followed by transportation and industry with 27% each. The Climate Transparency Report 2021 states that although Indonesia has proposed increasing renewable energy in terms of electricity, transportation, and industry, there is no strategy to phase out coal gradually and unavailable policies that encourage competition for renewable energy with coal. Climate Transparency Report 2021- the world’s most comprehensive annual record and comparison of G20 countries’ climate action, even projecting that Indonesia’s post-pandemic GHG emissions will soar beyond the emission level in 2019 as the revival of economic activity.

“Based on the IESR study, at the very least, to be compatible with the Paris Agreement, the reduction of carbon emissions in the energy sector should be above 500 million tons,” said Fabby Tumiwa, Executive Director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) at the launch of the Climate Transparency Report, Country Profile of Indonesia 2021.

Fabby explained that there are three strategies that the Indonesian government can take to reduce GHG emissions from the emission sector.

“First, increasing the renewable energy mix. It must reach 50% in 2030. Second, fostering energy efficiency, remarkably from the transportation sector. Our energy consumption per capita for electricity is relatively low, while the demand for transportation fuels is very high, and it is a contributor to highest emissions,” he said.

Furthermore, Fabby said that early retirement of at least 10 GW of coal-fired power plants (CFPP) or not extending the contract would be effective in reducing emissions.

Until 2020, Indonesia’s electricity sector will continue to be dominated by fossil fuels (82%), with coal accounting for the highest share (62%) in electricity generation 2020. As a result, the emission intensity of the electricity sector for five years from 2015-2020 has not changed significantly, only decreasing by 1%. Meanwhile, the average of G20 member countries has declined 10 times faster.

The Indonesian government has not yet fully implemented its commitment to reduce emissions from coal. To meet the carbon-neutral goal by 2060, the government has announced that they would not build a new coal-fired power plant after 2023. However, at the same time, around 2 GW of coal capacity has started operating. Moreover, in the NDC, Indonesia promised to reduce coal by 30% by 2025 and 25% by 2050. Meanwhile, according to the analysis of the Climate Transparency Report 2021, electricity generation from coal must even reach its peak in 2020 and need to stop coal completely by 2037 to align with the temperature rise limiting path at 1.5°C.

To reduce GHG emissions, a large amount of funding is needed. Therefore, public funding must have started to lead to actions that can tackle climate change more seriously.

“Therefore, subsidies in the fossil energy sector must begin to stop and accelerate the energy transition through renewable energy funding,” said Lisa Wijayani, Green Economy Program Manager, IESR.

In her opinion, investment in green energy and its infrastructure needs to be greater than in fossil fuels in 2025. So far, Indonesia has spent 8.6 billion USD on fossil fuel subsidies in 2019, 21.96% of them on petroleum and 38,48% on electricity.

Furthermore, Lisa added that the implementation of a carbon tax can be a good start in encouraging efforts to reduce GHG emissions, which are mainly contributed by the electricity, transportation, and industrial sectors as the largest emitters in Indonesia in the energy sector.

“However, there needs to be a more feasible mechanism so that the implementation of a carbon tax can reduce emissions significantly and promote a climate-resilient economy through even greater efforts, for instance, through carbon trading,” Lisa said

Towards COP 26, Community Leaders Demand Climate Emergency Declaration

Jakarta, 19 October 2021– Indonesia has updated its climate commitments through its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 or sooner. Indonesia’s commitment which is ten years behind the target of the Paris Agreement implies the government’s unambitious efforts in responding to the climate crisis that threatens the lives of the Indonesian people.

Fabby Tumiwa, Executive Director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) said that the problem of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) should not be seen as a burden but as an opportunity to transform into a low carbon economy.

“Based on our study entitled Deep decarbonization of Indonesia’s energy system, deep decarbonization of the energy system in 2050 will bring greater economic benefits,” said Fabby in the webinar “Towards COP 26: Climate change and the role of the society to preserve the earth” held by IESR (19/10/2021).

Fabby added that the community will feel the economic benefits by the creation of new industrial opportunities that can absorb a larger workforce. Moreover, Indonesia’s energy prices will be more affordable by using cheaper renewable energy technologies and cleaner air. He said that the compatible climate ambitions with the Paris Agreement will lessen the threat of hydrometeorological disasters as a consequence of increasing the earth’s temperature exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Highlighting policies and the level of public literacy on the climate crisis, community leaders in the event stated that unintegrated climate-related policies and the lack of access to climate change information make the climate change mitigation efforts in Indonesia keep decelerating.

The absence of a climate emergency declaration by the government, according to Melissa Kowara, Activist, Extinction Rebellion Indonesia, indicates the government’s low level of seriousness in dealing with the climate crisis.

“There has not been a firm stance from the highest levels of the country to say that we are in a crisis. (There is no declaration that says-ed) that we will do everything by the private sector, civil society, and government to overcome problems that affect the lives and survival of all of us,” said Melissa. She said this is also the cause of low public literacy regarding climate change.

Muhammad Ali Yusuf, Chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama Disaster Management and Climate Change Institute (LPBI NU), Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), also revealed that religious discourse in Indonesia itself is still far from ecological issues or climate change.

“Even if there is (climate discourse-ed), yet it is not the top priority issue. Therefore, climate change literacy is also necessary for religious leaders because religious life is impossible to prevail in the climate crisis,” he explained.

Furthermore, Jimmy Sormin, Executive Secretary for Witness and Integrity of Creation, Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI), encouraged religious leaders to play their role in increasing people’s understanding of climate issues by discussing them according to the local context.

“In the regions, the impacts of climate change, such as the emergence of new pests, crop failure, are experienced by the community, but they do not understand it. It is necessary to ‘rationalize’ it according to their perspective (the local community-ed),” said Jimmy.

Looking at the issue of climate change from a woman’s perspective, Mike Verawati Tangka, Secretary-General, Indonesian Women’s Coalition (KPI) believes that the climate change effect has a close impact on women’s lives. However, Mike regrets that environmental issues and change tend to be considered as masculine issues that override the role of women in caring for nature and advocating for climate issues.

“The impact of climate change is perceived the most laborious by women because our policies and systems are not prepared inclusively. Positive initiatives taken by women by advocating for climate change must also be recognized by the state,” said Mike