Join the United States - Indonesia Society (USINDO) and the Center for Global Sustainability at the University of Maryland on Friday, August 16th, 2024 at 2:00 pm for an open forum discussion on "Indonesia’s Climate Future: Land, Energy, and Governance"
Indonesia is one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world, and its emissions continue to grow. The largest sources of emissions both historically and currently are land use change, forestry, and energy production. Although the country has reduced its rate of land conversion from deforestation over the past decade, emissions from this sector remain high, amounting to the largest proportion of emissions overall in Indonesia. Policy shifts and increasing expansion in agriculture, mining, and the biofuel industry indicate the risk of even more extensive land use change emissions, despite pledges of no new deforestation.
Simultaneously, Indonesia’s energy production remains heavily dependent on high-emissions coal-fired power plants (about 67-70% of on-grid power generation). Despite pledges to reduce coal in the national energy portfolio by 2030, phase out coal by 2050, and rapidly grow the percentage of renewable energy sources in the energy portfolio, new coal power plants continue to come online, especially in the off-grid industrial sector focused on mineral production. Significantly, this includes minerals such as nickel which is essential for the transition to renewable energy. Moreover, Indonesia is well off the pace of its expressed target of 23% renewable energy by 2025, having not yet tapped its significant solar power potential. Gains in renewable energy that have occurred, such as in biomass cofiring in coal power plants, like nickel mining, involve land use emissions that are not yet well understood and may belie the “renewable energy” label.
The land, energy, and governance nexus in Indonesia is complex and immensely important not only for Indonesia’s climate future but also for global climate efforts.
Our special August 16th joint program on “Indonesia’s Climate Future: Land, Energy, and Governance" brings together distinguished experts, policymakers, and stakeholders to discuss these complexities and inform us on Indonesia’s strategic approaches to addressing climate change through sustainable land use and the renewable energy transition, the formidable challenges that remain, and how public understanding can make a difference.
Speakers include:
- Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr.
- Dr. Budy Resosudarmo, Professor, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics and Head, Indonesia Project, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
- Dr. Daniel Murdiyarso, Principal Scientist, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR-ICRAF) and Professor, Department of Geophysics and Meteorology, IPB University (Indonesia)
- Dr. Alin Halimatussadiah, Head of the Environmental Economic Research Group at the Institute of Economic and Social Research (LPEM), University of Indonesia
- Dr. Matthew Hansen, Professor of Geographical Sciences and Co-Director of the Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) laboratory, University of Maryland
- Dr. David McCauley, Senior Advisor to the World Bank’s Global Environment Facility (GEF)
- Mr. Fabby Tumiwa, Executive Director, Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) (Indonesia)
- Mr. Putra Adhiguna, Managing Director, Energy Shift Institute (Indonesia)
- Dr. Agus Sari, CEO, Landscape Indonesia (Indonesia)
The event will be held in person at the First Floor Conference Center at USINDO's offices in the Resources and Conservation Center, 1400 16th Street NW, Washington D.C. In-person attendance is encouraged when possible. Attendance by Zoom is also available. Those registering requesting Zoom will receive a Zoom link closer to the date.