ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – The latest report from the Global Carbon Project scientific team shows that Indonesia is one of the top ten countries producing carbon emissions throughout the world.
The amount of carbon produced by Indonesia will increase by 18.3% in 2022, the largest increase compared to other countries. The increase in emissions is contributed by the use of fossil energy (especially coal), land conversion and high deforestation in Indonesia.
In the land use sector, Indonesia is in second place as the largest emitting country in the world. During 2013-2022, Indonesia’s average land use emissions reached 930 million tons, contributing 19.9% of the world’s total land use change emissions. Together with Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia contributes 55% of the world’s total land sector emissions. Peak emissions in Indonesia in 1997 occurred due to peat fires in Indonesia.
The share of global CO2 emissions from fossil fuels in 2023 will be coal (41%), oil (32%), gas (21%), cement (4%), refinery lighting and others (2%, not shown).
These findings were presented in the Global Carbon Budget Report, which was compiled by more than 120 international scientists and has been peer-reviewed. Scientists say that global action to reduce the use of fossil fuels is not moving quickly enough to prevent dangerous climate change. Without efforts to reduce emissions, there is a 50% chance that the 1.5ºC temperature rise above pre-industrialization will be reached within seven years, several years sooner than the IPCC Report projections.
“Indonesia’s position as one of the largest emitters in the world is a warning that Indonesia needs to take part in reducing the amount of carbon emissions emitted, especially from the energy and land sectors. “As one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, it is important for this archipelagic country to make efforts to reduce carbon emissions and suppress the rate of climate change and prevent its worst impacts for the survival of the next generation,” said Iqbal Damanik, forest campaigner for Greenpeace Indonesia, Tuesday, December 5, 2023.
“The Global Carbon Budget report shows that there are contradictions between government data and scientists. “Therefore, there needs to be transparency in government data compared with data from global studies and data held by civil society,” said Nadia Hadad, Executive Director of Madani Sustainable.
“Deforestation is still occurring, perhaps because the Enhanced NDC still provides a deforestation “quota” of 300 thousand ha per year until 2030. Of the 128.7 thousand hectares of natural forest deforestation that occurred in 2020-2021, 62% occurred in permit and concession areas . Law enforcement must be stricter so that deforestation rates can be further reduced. “Furthermore, Indonesia must strengthen its commitment to stopping and reversing the rate of Indonesian forest loss as promised in the Glasgow’s Leaders Declaration on Forest and land Use,” he added.
“Indonesia is still addicted to coal, it is natural that our emissions are in the top 10 in the world. In 2023 we broke the record when at the beginning of December coal production reached 703.14 million tons, exceeding the target of 694.5 million tons. Not considering co-firing of wood biomass, which based on Asian Trend data could worsen 155.9 million tons of emissions from deforestation of 240,622 ha of natural forest. 43.59% of our emissions figure comes from forests and land, which indicates poor forest protection. As a result, the impact of climate change experienced by Indonesia will become increasingly severe. “In fact, Indonesia is very vulnerable to climate change, which will worsen the hydrometeorological disasters that are currently hitting us,” said Novita Indri, energy campaigner for Trend Asia.
“It is very clear in the general national energy plan (RUEN) that Indonesia will at least until 2040 still depend on fossil energy, especially coal. Even worse, it is projected that coal exports will decline, but domestic consumption will continue to rise. “So today’s condition is where coal consumption is increasing from year to year, apart from producing electricity on the PLN electricity network, also for captive generation, especially in the mineral industry,” said Communication Specialist 350.org Indonesia, Firdaus Cahyadi.
Commitment to Reducing Carbon Emissions COP 28 Climate Summit
Currently, the world’s largest climate change summit, the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP 28) is taking place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and will be a crucial meeting to ensure commitment, funding, use of clean technology more than ever. However, in a discussion on She Changes Climate (21/11), the President of COP 28, Sultan Al Jaber, who chaired the summit, stated that eliminating fossil fuels to achieve world climate targets was “not based on science”. He even stated that eliminating fossil fuels would send the world “back into the cave.”
The denial by Al Jaber, who also heads Dubai’s national oil company, signals the fossil industry’s reluctance and conflict of interest that could hamper efforts to tackle climate change. Researchers’ findings in the IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report released in March 2023 show that we need to reduce CO2 emissions by 48% by 2030 and 99% by 2050 for the 1.5oC target to prevent severe climate change impacts.
“Global emissions at current levels are rapidly increasing CO2 concentrations in our atmosphere, causing additional climate change and increasingly serious and increasing impacts,” said Professor Corinne Le Quéré, Royal Society Research Professor at UEA’s School of Environmental Sciences.
“All countries need to decarbonize their economies more rapidly than is currently being done to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.”
“COP 28 President Sultan Al Jaber, who should play a role in fighting climate change, is actually denying science when he is interested in being part of the fossil industry. “Indonesia, as a country that is vulnerable to climate change, needs to use science as a basis for decision making, as well as reduce bombastic coal production targets, be determined to reduce emissions, and immediately implement a just energy transition,” concluded Novita. (AT Network)
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