JAKARTA – Indonesia launched on Nov 21 an investment plan to mobilise US$20 billion (S$27 billion) in financing pledged by global lenders led by the United States and Japan to accelerate its power sector decarbonisation and called for immediate fund disbursement.
Under Indonesia’s Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), the country seeks to cut carbon dioxide emissions to 250 million metric tonnes for its on-grid power sector by 2030, versus estimated business-as-usual emissions of more than 350 million.
The investment proposal, known as the Comprehensive Investment and Policy Plan (CIPP), was officially announced following a public consultation period after the draft was made public earlier in November.
Indonesia, one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, plans to increase the portion of renewable energy in its power generation to 44 per cent by 2030 from around 12 per cent in 2022.
“We have to move quickly because 2030 is less than seven years away. The partnership must be enhanced and accelerated to do the priority projects, including to immediately realise the financing commitments,” Mr Erick Thohir, the ad interim Chief Minister for Investment Affairs, said at the launch.
The CIPP indicated that investments worth US$97.3 billion were needed to achieve the targets, including US$66.9 billion for 400 projects that need to start by 2030 at the latest.
Mr Michael Kleine, the US charge d’affaires in Jakarta, said the JETP funding was expected to “jump-start” energy transition investment and attract more financing.
Some environmentalists, however, were concerned about the large portion of commercial loans in the mix.
Half of the funds pledged would come from private financing, which could be commercial loans carrying market rates, equity investment or other debt instruments.
“What is the point of waiting for the JETP CIPP document to be released when the deal with advanced countries is just business-as-usual loans?” said Mr Bhima Yudhistira of think-tank Centre of Economic and Law Studies.
Indonesia’s JETP is the biggest of its kind, followed by Vietnam’s US$15 billion scheme. REUTERS
