A Closer Look at Indonesia's Climate Policy

The Paris Agreement commits all signatories to limit global warming to less than two degrees Celsius. In that vein, states have submitted Nationally Determined Contributions – their national commitment to climate protection across the globe. The recently-published "Implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions – Indonesia Country Report" focuses on Indonesia's implementation of its climate goals. Main authors of the report are Florian Mersmann and Timon Wehnert of the Research Group Energy, Transport and Climate Policy (Wuppertal Institute). Another country report on Viet Nam was published in parallel under the lead of NewClimate Institute.
Keeping global temperatures below two degrees Celsius as defined by the Paris Agreement requires all countries to take close looks at their climate policies and to uncover options for more ambitious climate protection. Researchers of NewClimate Institute and Wuppertal Institute are analysing climate policies and further options in ten focus countries of German bilateral cooperation for climate protection through the project "Implementation of future GHG mitigation goals: framework conditions and transformative changes in selected focus countries".
The report on Indonesia highlights large greenhouse gas mitigation potentials with the country's forestry sector. At the same time, the authors warn that the planned increase of lignite coal capacities would lock in emissions increases for long periods of time. Transitioning away from coal may yield strong benefits including reduced air pollution and conservation of landscapes, the authors explain. Reducing emissions from coal extraction and use is a central topic of the Viet Nam country study as well.
Both reports are products of the project "Implementation of future GHG mitigation goals: framework conditions and transformative changes in selected focus countries", issued by the German Federal Environment Agency, UBA, and conducted by NewClimate Institute and the Wuppertal Institute. The reports have been published by the Umweltbundesamt and are available at the UBA's homepage free of charge.