Jakarta, 29 September 2022. A civil society coalition, consisting of Yayasan Madani Berkelanjutan, Kemitraan, WALHI, Yayasan PIKUL, and IESR, welcomes the Government of Indonesia’s decision to enhance the country’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions reduction target by 2030 from 29% to 31.89% with its own efforts and from 41% to 43.2% with international support. This enhancement reflects the Government of Indonesia’s earnestness in tackling global climate change. This enhancement should have been made with meaningful and inclusive public participation and taken into account various sectors, so that options for climate change mitigation and adaptation actions in Indonesia are effective and do not cause adverse impacts on vulnerable groups.

Crises faced by the Indonesian people due to climate change are becoming more evident. Some adaptation and mitigation options may worsen the adaptive capacity of ecosystems and communities if carried out recklessly without full consideration of social and environmental impacts.

In the city of Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, the construction of breakwater infrastructure as an option to tackle climate change has undermined the needs of traditional fisherfolk communities. In Malaka District, East Nusa Tenggara, flood prevention infrastructure has increased communities’ vulnerability to floods. In Pekalongan, Central Java, an embankment built to prevent seawater from flooding the land has blocked the flow of nutritions, hindering the growth of mangroves.

Pulau Obi in North Maluku is a 2,500 km2 island and currently bears 19 nickel mining concessions, some of which are intended to fulfill the demand of electric vehicles. Mining and smelting activities there also rely on coal power plants, which are emission intensive.

“The main subjects in actions to combat climate change are people and ecosystems, which cannot be separated from one another. Climate change actions must be balanced, and in the context of Indonesia, adaptation must be given the same or even a greater portion than mitigation. Both central and regional governments must involve communities’ participation and identify their needs when choosing and carrying out climate change mitigation and adaptation actions,” said Dewi Rizki, Program Director of Kemitraan. 

The Climate Justice Coalition highlights Indonesia’s enhancement of climate ambition in the forestry and land use (FOLU) and energy sectors, which contribute the biggest emissions reduction in Enhanced NDC.

“This enhancement in climate ambition deserves appreciation, especially due to the amount of funds and multi-stakeholder collaboration required to achieve it,” said Nadia Hadad. “But this target could have been made more ambitious considering that Indonesia has decided to pursue a greater target of Indonesia FOLU Net Sink by 2030,” added Nadia Hadad, the Executive Director of Yayasan Madani Berkelanjutan.

In Enhanced NDC, total deforestation in 2020-2030 under the own-efforts scenario increases to 359 thousand ha per year, higher than the previous target of 325 thousand ha per year as stipulated in the First NDC Indonesia of 2016 and the Updated NDC Indonesia of 2021, even though Indonesia has consecutively reduced deforestation in the last 4 years.

In the energy sector, the Coalition appreciates the raising of emissions reduction target to 44 MTCO2e, a 14% increase from the Updated NDC. Unfortunately, the increase has yet to be made aligned with the global target of preventing temperature rise below 2°C/1,5°C.

“Emissions reduction in the energy sector can be further improved with a target of renewable energy blending of 42% by 2030,” explained Fabby Tumiwa, the Executive Director of IESR. “Further emissions reduction can be achieved with the early retirement of coal power plants—a target that remains to be included in Indonesia’s NDC emissions reduction calculation.”

With regard to climate adaptation, actions must be made aligned with development and prevent the worsening of conditions or maladaptation.

“Even though NDC has mentioned cross-sectoral integration, at a national level, coordination and collaboration between sectors remain a big challenge because many development initiatives that are eco-friendly tend to collide with the non-eco-friendly ones, adversely affecting the safety of peoples,” said Torry Kuswardono, the Director of Yayasan PIKUL.

The Coalition highlights the lack of public consultation and participation, especially from civil society organizations and Indigenous Peoples or customary communities in the formulation of Enhanced NDC even though they are the ones that are in the frontline of and are directly impacted by climate change. The Paris Agreement has affirmed the importance of public participation and public’s access to information as well as the involvement of all actors in all processes to tackle climate change, including when planning NDCs. The formulation and implementation of NDC should be based on the “no-one-left-behind” principle, both in climate change actions and efforts to achieve sustainable development goals. Therefore, strengthening the mechanisms for meaningful consultation and involvement of all stakeholders is an absolute necessity, both in drafting and implementing NDC.

“Only by having a meaningful public participation mechanism can Indonesia truly claim that actions listed in NDC are able to save the Indonesian people from the climate crisis that is already occurring and will be increasingly felt,” said Hadi Jatmiko, Head of Campaign Division of National WALHI.

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Contact persons:

1. Nadia Hadad, Executive Director, Yayasan Madani Berkelanjutan, Ph. 0811 132 081

2. Hadi Jatmiko, Head of Campaign Division of National WALHI, Ph. 0813 1006 8838  

3. Fabby Tumiwa, Executive Director, IESR, Ph. 0811-949-759

4. Torry Kuswardono, Executive Director, Yayasan PIKUL, Ph. 0811 383 270

5. Dewi Rizki, Program Director, Sustainable Governance Strategic, Ph. 0811-8453-112

Notes to Editor:

1. In Enhanced NDC, the emissions reduction target in the Forestry and Land Use (FOLU) sector that must be achieved with Indonesia’s own efforts increased by 0.6% or 3 MTCO2e from 497 MTCO2e  in Updated NDC to 500 MTCO2e. Meanwhile, the emissions reduction target that will be met if there is international support increased by 5.35% or 37 MTCO2e from 692 MCO2e to 729 MTCO2e.

2. According to a study by IESR and University of Maryland (2022), to align emissions reduction with 1.5C pathways, Indonesia needs to retire 9.2 GW of coal-fired power plants by 2030. Unfortunately, in NDC, early retirement of coal-fired power plants is not yet taken into account in the calculation of emissions reduction. 

3. The Coalition recommends the following to be taken into consideration by the government:

   1. Protect the remaining unprotected secondary natural forests by including them in the Indicative Map of Prohibition of New Permits Issuance; 

   2. Limit Forest Utilization Business Permit in natural forests only for restorative activities such as environmental services and ecosystems restoration;

   3. Accelerate the realization of Social Forestry targets – especially customary forests – and strengthen assistance to communities to enable the program to contribute to reducing emissions, protecting essential ecosystems, and increasing communities’ resilience to climate change impacts.

   4. Affirm co-firing as a mitigation action in Enhanced NDC only as a short-term emissions reduction strategy while retiring coal-fired power plants even earlier;

   5. Co-firing with biomass must take into consideration the following aspects: the economic viability of the cost of biomass fuel and prevention of increased emissions in the land sector. The utilization of co-firing with biomass cannot justify the extension of coal-fired power plants;

   6. Prioritize adaptation actions in every climate change intervention;

   7. Operationalize Climate-Resilient Development Plan to the regional and local level so that it can be implemented through the Regional Development Plan and the Regional Budget;

   8. Ensure public participation in the formulation of Regional Action Plan on Climate Change Adaptation or RAD-API to push for participatory adaptation actions that fulfill the justice aspect in handling the impacts caused.

4. Further information regarding examples of maladaptation and mitigation options that cause adverse social and environmental impacts can be found below:: 

   1. Kupang, NTT: https://pikul.id/maladaptasi-dan-adaptasi-efektif-di-ntt/

   2. Malaka District, NTT: see report by Herman Seran, “Sungai Adalah Sahabat, Banjir Adalah Rejeki: Temuan Studi Survei Etnografis Dataran Banjir Benenai Wesiku-Wehali,” 2021. 

   3. Pekalongan, Central Java: https://www.kemitraan.or.id/program-tiap-provinsi/adaptation-fund-project-pekalongan

   4. Pulau Obi, North Maluku: https://www.walhi.or.id/berebut-ruang-dengan-investasi