Energy transition

In the recent national elections, the candidates paid surprisingly little attention to one of the greatest challenges Indonesia and the world at large is currently facing – that of climate change. At the same time, for more and more Indonesians, climate change induced natural disasters like droughts, storms and floods are increasingly impacting their lives.

Indonesia has committed to the Paris Agreement to limit global warning to 1.5 degrees Celsius and signed up to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2060, including peaking emissions from the energy sector by 2030. Reaching these targets will have a lot to do with how it transitions from a reliance on fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. For a nation on a steep growth trajectory that includes downstreaming and elevated productivity, and with large coal reserves at its disposal, this is a massive challenge. What are Indonesia’s stated commitments and ambitions towards an energy transition away from fossil fuels? Does it have a plan to get there? What will it take?

In this week’s episode Jemma Purdey chats with Wicaksono Gitawan, Just Energy Transition Associate at Yayasan Indonesia CERAH, an Indonesian non-profit organization working to advance the energy transition policy agenda in Indonesia.

In 2024, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Jemma Purdey from the Australia-Indonesia Centre, Dr Jacqui Baker from Murdoch University, Dr Elisabeth Kramer from the University of New South Wales and Tito Ambyo from RMIT.

Image: Suralaya coal-fired power plant in Cilegon, Banten Province, ANTARA/HO-PLN