Coordinating Minister Airlangga: Government Efforts To Achieving Net Zero Emission Targets Not To Lower GDP

JAKARTA - The government through the Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto said that awareness of the negative impacts of climate change must be maintained so that the targets in the Paris Agreement can be achieved and do not affect gross domestic product (GDP).

According to him, Indonesia is still committed to realizing a 29 percent reduction in carbon emissions in 2030 with its own efforts and 41 percent with international assistance.

"If the net zero emission target is achieved, world GDP will decrease by 10 percent, where Southeast Asia is one of the regions or regions with high risk," he said in a press statement on Wednesday, May 11.

Airlangga added, based on the climate economic index, it shows that Indonesia is a very vulnerable country, especially when it enters the dry season.

"The government through the Ministry of Environment and Forestry has prepared to deal with forest fires," he said.

For this reason, in order to encourage the success of a green economy, discussions based on multilateral development are needed.

He mentioned that Indonesia and Asian Development were discussing a scenario for low-carbon-based energy development that was economically viable.

"Including pilot projects related to emission reduction activities targeted at 2060. We hope that the prototyping of the PLTU can be financed and this is being discussed with the Asian Development Bank," he said.

Furthermore, Airlangga said the government also continues to encourage the energy transition mechanism in the form of taxation which is a cap and trade as well as a cap and tax.

"So companies that have a commitment to save energy if they are greater than their food commitments will be given a tax that will be applied to PLTU this year and this is what we are pushing," he said.

In the transportation sector, the government emphasized that it will continue to encourage the mandatory biodiesel program and energy reduction equivalent to 23.3 million tons of CO2 equivalent, which is expected to accelerate the electric car-based industrial sector.

“The green industry is the main goal in the energy transition period and of course this will ultimately provide added value to the economy itself. Besides that, it can also absorb highly skilled workers," concluded Coordinating Minister Airlangga.