Indonesia's Climate Action Values ​​Still Poor

Indonesia's efforts to reduce global warming are still far from sufficient to achieve the Paris Agreement.

The following article was translated using both Microsoft Azure Open AI and Google Translation AI. The original article can be found in Nilai Aksi Iklim Indonesia Masih Buruk

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

The Harita Nickel mining and nickel processing industry area in Obi Island, South Halmahera, North Maluku, was active in the morning before sunrise on Sunday (26/11/2023).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Climate actions and policies to reduce emissions in Indonesia are categorized as very insufficient or critically insufficient. This means that the government's efforts to reduce global warming are still far from sufficient. There is a large gap between current policies and the emission levels agreed to in the 2015 Paris Agreement, namely 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Executive Director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) Fabby Tumiwa said that the climate mitigation actions carried out by the Indonesian Government have not been optimal and tend to weaken. Indonesia needs to re-evaluate its climate target or nationally determined contribution (NDC) of 29-41 percent by 2030, as well as improve coordination between sectors in order to accelerate the achievement of the Paris Agreement targets.

"In Indonesia, there has been no decrease in emissions, in fact, our climate action has worsened. This is due to an increase in emissions in 2022, one of which is due to the increased consumption of coal burned for downstream activities," said Fabby in Jakarta, on Tuesday (30/1/2024). "

In Indonesia, there has been no decrease in emissions, and even our climate action has worsened.

The December 2023 data from the Climate Action Tracker (CAT) shows that Indonesia's emissions in 2022 were about 1,805 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCOe2). If current climate policies are not improved, emissions in Indonesia will only decrease to 1,487 MtCOe2 to 1.28 MtCOe2. This number still needs to be reduced by about 800 MtCOe2 by 2030 in order for the emission reduction target to align with the Paris Agreement.

According to the CAT assessment, Indonesia needs to increase the percentage of renewable energy mix to around 55-80 percent by 2030.

"None of the countries have achieved the Paris Agreement standard yet, but Indonesia is still far behind, with approximately 800 MtCOe2 left to be closed and we only have six to seven years left until the end of this decade," said Project Coordinator of CAT, IESR, Delima Ramadhani.

KOMPAS/P RADITYA MAHENDRA YASA

Residents were in the yard of houses that were partly destroyed due to abrasion in Tambaklorok, Semarang, Central Java on Monday (22/1/2024). The construction project of seawalls to protect from waves and tidal floods is still ongoing. Various problems, including abrasion, land subsidence, and the current phenomenon of climate change, have a great impact on residents of the northern coast of Java.

The operation of new coal power plants and emissions quantification systems from off-grid plants (independent solar power plants) will cause emissions in Indonesia to increase by around 21 percent in 2022. In addition, Indonesia's emissions are also projected to increase by around 300 MtCOe2 in 2030.

”It is sad to say that we are now critically insufficient. This means that if the country has the same policy as Indonesia, the global temperature increase could reach 4 degrees Celsius. "This is the lowest assessment in CAT," he said.

However, even though 2023 has already been touted as one of the hottest years with a global temperature increase of 1.4 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times. The COP28 event in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, also declared that the policies and actions taken by countries around the world have not yet been able to reduce the rate of emissions increase to meet the Paris Agreement targets.

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Deputy Head of Mitigation Monitoring Implementation at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Franky Zamzani, believes that there is a difference in data calculations compared to the government's data. According to the government, Indonesia has already achieved a lower level of emissions below the threshold. However, The data from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry shows that Indonesia's emissions in 2022 are around 998 MtCOe2 or a decrease of 884 MtCOe2 (42 percent) from the target of 1,220 MtCOe2.

"I am not yet familiar with the IESR methodology. We have not reviewed this report yet because if this policy is continued until 2030, I am optimistic that the target will be achieved, especially if we add to it. However, if this model is changed again, we do not know what the impact will be," said Franky.

Coordinator of the Directorate of Environment at the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), Anna Amalia, stated that differences in data will always occur when analyzed using different methods. However, both of these data indicate that Indonesia still has a lot of work to do to fulfill the Paris Agreement.

According to Anna, a number of government efforts with climate action policies in 2023, such as the construction of the Cirata Floating PLTS which will be the largest in Southeast Asia and the first green hydrogen refinery in Indonesia, as well as other policies, will continue to be encouraged. All policies have been prepared in the short, medium and long term national development plans.

"The government is now moving more progressively, in the next 20 years we will have a long-term plan that focuses heavily on reducing emissions and of course the policies under it will follow," said Anna.

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Anna also confirmed that the long-term national development plan is being crafted and will be agreed upon before President Joko Widodo's term ends. Therefore, the next government must still implement the current plan.