Trend Asia: Presidential Candidates' Carbon Footprint During Campaign Equals Entire Flight in Raja Ampat

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Research Manager of Trend Asia Zakki Amali said that the running candidates in upcoming presidential elections produced carbon emissions equal to the flight of an entire Raja Ampat Regency in Papua during their campaign period. Hence, their commitment to tackling the climate crisis is questionable. 

Throughout the campaign period, the candidates raced to promise a reduction of carbon emissions to combat the climate crisis if they were elected. "Unfortunately, what happens is the complete opposite to the emissions they emit during the election period," Zakki told Tempo on Tuesday.

Within 92 percent of the campaign period, the carbon footprint from private jets used by the three presidential candidates reached 1,276,342 kilograms. The greenhouse gas trend in Indonesia for the 2000-2019 period showed that the energy sector was the first cause with 9,130,242 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (GgCO2e) or 39.18 percent of the total greenhouse gas (GHG) for all sectors.

"The data shows that civil aviation GHG ranks second in the transportation sub-sector with a contribution of 7.93 percent," he said. Overall, civil aviation contributed 0.71 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2022, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that aviation contributed 2 percent of CO2 emissions globally, with private jets higher than commercial ones. Private jets emitted pollution 5-14 times worse than commercial flights, Zakki explained.

“Private jets have higher damaging power compared to other modes of transportation,” he said. This data showed that presidential candidates must pay close attention to this sector to subdue GHG emissions.

Trend Asia monitored the three presidential candidate pairs to see the impact of campaign activities on the environment. The focus is on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the flights they use in the form of private jets, helicopters, and chartered commercial aircraft.

"The observation was carried out from the start of the campaign on Nov. 28, 2023, to Feb. 4,  2024. We analyzed a total of 235 flights with various types of aircraft with a total distance of 174,108.37 kilometers. All of them were domestic flights," he said.

According to Zakki, not all trips can be analyzed due to limited flight data and efforts to hide the data used in the public domain. "We suspect that the flight data is more than meets the public eye. What is presented is the tip of the iceberg," he said.

Trend Asia Program Director, Ahmad Ashov Birry, said that the carbon footprint of these three candidate pairs is sky-high due to the use of airplanes, contributing to worsening global warming. "They should have used commercial flights or other possible alternative transport with lower emissions to reduce their carbon footprint during the campaign as well as to show their commitment and direction of the energy transition going forward," said Ashov.

IRSYAN HASYIM

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