Indonesia’s first major mitigation commitment was in 2009 at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, a pledge to reduce emissions by 26% alone and up to 41% with international support against a business as usual baseline by 2020. In its NDC under the Paris Agreement, Indonesia pledged a 29% reduction against the same baseline by 2030. To achieve these reductions, the government identified three key areas; land and forestry management, energy development and conservation, and waste management. The original INDC in 2015 emphasized cutting carbon emissions from the energy sector more than in land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) despite that the majority of Indonesia’s emissions come from LULUCF. The Indonesian government has estimated emissions from these sources at 63%. In 2016, the responsibility of emissions reductions shifted. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry (Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan, KLHK) was assigned 17% of the 29% reduction commitment, while the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (Kementerian Energi dan Sumber Daya Mineral, ESDM) was assigned 11%. Of the 41% conditional target, the KLHK is responsible for 23% and the ESDM is responsible for 14%. Additionally, in the transition from the INDC to NDC, Indonesia put greater emphasis on resiliency and adaptation to climate change.

Indonesia provided a more thorough documentation of the five sectors responsible for achieving targets. The responsibility of each sector can be found in Indonesia’s input to the Talanoa Dialogue (https://unfccc.int/documents/65161). Unfortunately, in the “how do we get there section”, the input document obfuscated any actionable recommendations with general and vague policy jargon. The Indonesian government needs to explicitly lay out the programs and policies to cut emissions in each of the five sectors.

Emissions reductions from forestry and land use are more easily actionable than the energy sector, especially given the electrification ratio targets of the ESDM and the wide availability of coal and gas resources. This differing ease of implementation is evident in the policies and programs of the two ministries. The KLHK is following through on the lion’s share of Indonesia’s emissions reductions and making its efforts to do so public. Some of the key policies of the KLHK include the moratorium on clearing primary and secondary forests, revoking concession permits in forests, creating the Peatland Restoration Agency, and developing a plan for social forestry. The KLHK has communicated its efforts well. Notably, the agency led the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit a few weeks ago, highlighting the allocation of 12.7 million hectares of land to communities for social forestry management. At the summit, the KLHK signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Forestry Cooperation with the government of Fiji, outlining steps to improve forestry management and conservation. Meanwhile, ESDM has not engaged the public in its efforts to transition to renewables and develop the overall energy sector. For the most part, information on ESDM policies has come from nondescript official releases. Judging by the emphasis on coal in ESDM planning and its lack of transparency, ESDM can be said to be falling behind.

Recommendations:

Indonesia’s NDC is strong. What it lacks is robustness. The steps to meet reduction targets need to be explicitly laid out for each of the five sectors. The other ministries need to take after the KLHK in this respect. However, the KLHK’s credibility would be improved with greater data availability and measurement, verification, and reporting studies (MRV studies, this is the system to ensure mitigation policies correctly measure and implement GHG reductions). Overall, the Indonesian government needs to bring together the efforts of its different agencies and levels of government to achieve emissions reduction targets. The government should disclose more of its data to the public so its efforts to mitigate climate change can be understood and verified.

The ESDM needs to publicize its current efforts and plans to meet the 11% reduction target. Coal continues to dominate ESDM’s plans for the energy mix. Where will the 11% reduction come from? Meanwhile, the KLHK has a promising set of mitigation policies in place. It now needs to improve MRV and transparency. Please send the following message to the ESDM and KLHK to urge further action and communication:

NDC Indonesia terhadap Persetujuan Paris (Paris Agreement) membutuhkan lebih banyak detail tentang bagaimana NDC Indonesia mencapai targetnya. Belum semua kementerian memaparkan tindakan untuk memenuhi komitmen penguranan emisi.
KLHK telah menjadi panutan dalam penyusunan gerakan dan tindakannya, meskipun masih membutuhkan bukti bahwa program, kegiatan, dan kebijakan yang diimplementasikan mebuahkan hasil. KLHK dapat meningkatkan reputasinya dengan studi MRV mengenai kebijakan secara independen dan memaparkan data dan contoh kepada publik. Sementara itu ESDM masih belum berhasil menunjukan usaha mereka dalam mencapai targetnya. Fokus ESDM terhadap penggunaan batu bara sebagai bauran energi merupakan hal yang mengkhawatirkan. ESDM diharuskan untuk mengeluarkan rancangan pengurangan emisi karbon dari sektor energi dan menjelaskan bagaimana mencapai target penggunaan energi terbarukan. Kredibilitas NDC Indonesia bergantung pada KLHK dan ESDM. KLHK dan ESDM harus memimpin dengan mempersiapkan aksi solid dan konkret untuk mencapai NDC Indonesia, dengan membuktikan bahwa aksi tersebut berjalan dan sukses sehingga NDC Indonesia dapat berkembang.

Indonesia’s NDC to the Paris Agreement needs greater detail on how it will achieve its targets. Not all ministries have laid out the steps they will follow to reach reduction commitments. The KLHK has been exemplary in laying out its own steps, but needs to prove that these programs, actions and policies are producing results. KLHK can improve its reputation with independent MRV studies of its policies and public disclosure of data and models. The ESDM has so far failed to publicize its efforts to meet targets. ESDM’s emphasis on coal in the energy mix is concerning. ESDM must release its plans to reduce carbon emissions from the energy sector and describe how it will meet renewable energy targets. The credibility of Indonesia’s NDC largely rests with KLHK and ESDM. EDSM and KLHK must lead the way by providing solid action plans to achieve Indonesia’s NDC, by proving that these steps are working, and succeeding so that Indonesia’s NDC can be expanded.

Send Action Alert Message to the KLHK and ESDM:

Email ESDM: klik@esdm.go.id
Send KLHK a message with this form: http://www.menlhk.go.id/kontak.php