Climate Change: All Eyes on Indonesia

When you type in the word "climate change in Indonesia" you will find various reports from international and local agencies. You'll find one from CCPI that shows that Indonesia falls six points, from 36 in 2024 to 42 in 2025 in the Climate Performance Index. Meanwhile, Unicef noted that Indonesia ranked 46th globally in the Children’s Climate Risk Index. Next, the Climate Action Tracker deemed Indonesia's overall rating is critically insufficient in policies and action against fair share, as well as conditional and unconditional NDC target. Last but not least, The University of Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative Country Index 2020 also placed Indonesia 97 out of 181 countries as vulnerable to climate change impacts. Not a very optimistic stats, indeed.

Why is Indonesia important? First of all, because Indonesia is the home to the world's third-largest rainforest. Thus we ofter hear people refer Indonesia as the lungs of the world. However, with big power comes big responsibility. With Indonesia's ability to become the lungs of the world, it also has the ability to be one of the biggest polluters. You see, Indonesia also has lots of peatlands, such as palm oil or pulpwood plantations. This could benefit the world, or became its biggest issue when it is burned or drained. Due to its location, which is in the ring of fires, and its geographic position in the global ocean conveyor belt, Indonesia is also prone to natural disasters, such as earthquake, volcano eruption, flooding and extreme heat. Not to mention Indonesia's population that reaches 284 millions by mid-2025 according to BPS. This will be linked to food security, because rice crop production is affected by climate change as well. Not to mention health, hygiene, urban planning, waste, dependency on fossil fuels, disaster risk management, etc. The cause and effect of climate change in relation to Indonesia is just to much to mention.

So what are we going to do about it?

As mandated by Article 4.19 of the Paris Agreement, Indonesia formulates a long-term

low greenhouse gas emission development strategy (LTS) which defines pathways in

achieving low emission development until 2050 to help guide the implementation and development of the subsequent nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Thus, in September 2022, in relation to the Paris Agreement, Indonesia submits its Enhanced NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) to the UNFCCC Secretariat. The target is to increase emission reduction target to 31.89% unconditionally and 43.20% conditionally. This is alligned with the Long-Term Low Carbon and Climate Resilience Strategy (LTS-LCCR) 2050 with a vision to achieve net-zero emission by 2060 or sooner. The target will be achieved through a set of technological development-relevant activities in various sectors which are energy, waste, industrial processes and product use (IPPU), agriculture, forestry, and/or other relevant sectors.

As stated above, one of the biggest sector that contributes almost 60% of the total emission reduction target is FOLU (Forestry and other land uses). Thus the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, as stated in the Environment and Forestry Ministerial Decree No. 168/2022, launched the FOLU Net Sink 2030 program. FOLU Net Sink is a condition when the amount of carbon absorbed by the forest and land sector is equal to or greater than the emissions it produces. The FOLU net sink target is to reach an emission level at minus 140 Mt CO2e by 2030, and minus 304 Mt CO2e by 2050, leading to the net emission level for all sectors in the national level of 540 Mt CO2e or equivalent to 1.6 tonnes CO2 per capita.

With the government's plan intact, state owned enterprises, NGOs and private companies must also evaluate how they can contribute to the achievement of Net Zero Emission by 2060. Moreover, how they can contributes to the well being of the community surrounding them that is effected by climate change. Through extensive planning that is align with the entitity's vision, mission and values, every company can make an impact and bring Indonesia a step closer to reaching its target.

If you're interested in starting a corporate climate change initiatives, contact us for more details.