Greenpeace Indonesia Laments Government's Climate Stance in COP27

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Greenpeace Indonesia on Thursday lamented the Indonesian government's climate stance mentioned by Vice President Ma’ruf Amin in his opening speech at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP27, at the Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. 

The VP explained Indonesia’s decision to increase its goal to reduce emissions filed under the Enhanced Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which states a 31.89 percent independent emissions reduction (from the previous 29 percent), and an internationally assisted reduction of 43.20 percent (from the previous 41 percent).

In the watchdog’s release, they claim the VP’s statement shows the government is still trapped in a series of concocted solutions that have yet to answer the problem of the climate crisis as Ma’ruf Amin maintained that the increased goals align with the government’s expansion of conservation and natural restoration, the application of carbon tax, Forest and Other Land Uses (FOLU) net sink 2030, the development of electric vehicle ecosystem, and initiation of Biodiesel B40 program.

The Vice President also alluded to the need for international support for energy transition investment, effective and fair carbon market, and climate action funding.

Greenpeace Indonesia Head of Global Forest Campaign, Kiki Taufik said, the commitment to raising the target of decreasing emissions in the Enhanced NDC on one hand shows that the climate crisis is the government's concern. The FOLU sector even targets negative emissions of 15 million tons with international assistance.

"However, the Enhanced NDC document still records deforestation in Indonesia, both planned and unplanned," said Kiki. 

The deforestation rate for business as usual (Bau) 2021-2030 is assumed to be 0.820 million hectares/year, with independent efforts of 0.359 million hectares and 0.175 million hectares for those with foreign assistance.

Kiki said that the expansion of conservation and nature reservations must be followed by a commitment to protection against natural forests that are threatened by deforestation as it is included in the concession area. The 2020 data recorded that there were 6.3 million hectares of forest areas within the concession area, both Industrial Plantation Forests (HTI) and Business Use Rights (HGU). Restoration and protection of peatlands are also crucial to prevent forest and land fires (Karhutla).

Greenpeace argued that the recovery of peatlands so far remains to be sectoral and tends to accommodate large-scale plantation industries operating in the area where forest and land fires had happened in the past. The government in the NDC targets peat restoration of 2 million hectares by 2030. But on the other hand, still has 1 million hectares of peatlands threatened by concessions, both HGU and Non-HGU.

The Biodiesel B40 program, delivered by Vice President Ma'ruf Amin in COP27, has the opportunity to raise the rate of deforestation and trigger a deficit in oil palm stock (CPO). Biodiesel B30 alone has been predicted to trigger a deficit of 40 million tons in 2025 leading to the need for additional 5.2 million hectares of new land areas if the government intends to continue this program.

Increasing the target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Enhanced NDC shows the government’s awareness of the impact of the climate crisis and the urgency to start a green transition. However, its commitment is still far from adequate and highly insufficient according to climate analysis Action Tracker.

Head of the Greenpeace Indonesia Climate and Energy Campaign, Tata Mustasya said, Indonesia must greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 62 percent and 75 percent with international assistance to be in harmony with the Paris agreement.

Mustasya emphasized that Indonesia's dependence on coal has also hindered energy transitions and the goal to achieve zero emission targets in 2050. This tendency is visible in the government policy that still allows a minimum of 25 percent use of coal in 2050.

Tempo | Greenpeace

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