Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto here on Thursday called for efforts to cut carbon emissions to help fulfill Indonesia’s commitment to the transition to renewable energy.

“We have to balance the rise in energy demand in the future with the commitment to reduce carbon, which is why the development of renewable energy is very important,” he noted.

Indonesia is actively participating in the global emissions mitigation effort as a precaution against climate change by committing to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060.

The minister stressed that renewable energy must be used to replace high-carbon energy sources such as fossil fuels, especially to meet domestic energy demand.

The Indonesian government is aiming to ensure the proportion of renewable energy in the total energy sources reaches 23 percent by 2025.

In 2021, the nation’s energy transformation was expedited by reducing carbon emissions from Indonesia’s power plants, which had reached 10.37 million tons, or twice the reduction target.

The Indonesian government will implement carbon price policies in the form of a carbon cap and trade, as well as a carbon tax scheme in 2023.

These policies will determine the upper limit of carbon emissions in several sectors and introduce the carbon trade and tax scheme, Hartarto said.

“We expect these policies to incentivize the industry to change its energy into renewable source,” he remarked.

The effort to expedite the energy transformation process for reaching the target proportion will not only require support from the national private sector, but also from the global community, he emphasized.

This is reasonable considering that preventing climate change is the world’s responsibility and requires collaboration from all nations, he added.

“This global support comes in the form of financing and technology transfer from advanced nations such as South Korea,” the minister explained.

In terms of regulation, Indonesia has ratified Law No. 11 of 2020 on Job Creation.

The aim of the law is to create an easy business ecosystem that does not neglect standards, safety, security, and environmental sustainability.

In addition, the government has formed the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA) to provide alternative investment facilities for the development of green economy.

Source: Antara News