WALHI: Blackouts During Earth Hour In Jakarta Are Not Effective In Overcoming Carbon Footprint

Combo photo of a power outage during the implementation (right) and before the implementation (left) of Earth Hour in the HI Roundabout area, Jakarta, Saturday (2/7/2022). (Antara/Muhammad Adimaja)

JAKARTA - Director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI) DKI Jakarta Suci F Tanjung said that turning off the lights for one hour during the "earth hour" warning in Jakarta, Saturday night is not effective in overcoming the carbon footprint caused by the use of fossil energy.

However, Suci in Jakarta, Saturday night admitted that the "earth hour" campaign contains an invitation to people to be more concerned and aware of energy use.

"Earth hour" is a global movement that seeks to invite individuals, communities, business practitioners, and governments in various parts of the world to symbolically show their concern and contribution to climate change mitigation.

"A further narrative is needed so that the community is able to identify the real problem, as well as invite the community to participate in reducing carbon emissions," Suci said as quoted by Antara.

Based on PLN's 2019 data, he said, the consumption of electrical energy in big cities is very high. The city of Jakarta itself has a percentage of 6.11 percent of national electricity customers, but if we look more closely, it seems that the electricity consumption of the city of Jakarta is in the range of 13.97 percent.

"The high energy consumption in Jakarta has an impact on increasing carbon emissions, one of which is a contributor to air pollution and has a negative impact on human health and the environment," he said.

He pushed for regulations related to reducing emissions in a systematic and structural way, for example accelerating the transition to renewable energy, improving public transportation services, optimizing waste reduction and management, to controlling emission sources, especially from the industrial sector.

Suci said energy consumption is a good thing, but the transition from dirty energy to more environmentally friendly energy is the main thing that needs to be paid attention to by stakeholders.

Referring to the Governor's Instruction Regulation Number 14 of 2021, DKI Jakarta carries out a program of turning off lights for one hour during "earth hour", in a number of locations ranging from all DKI Jakarta Provincial Government Office buildings (except hospitals, health centers, clinics), protocol roads and arteries to symbols of the city of Jakarta.