Jayanty Nada Shofa, Jakarta – The UN climate boss said Saturday that Indonesia should set more ambitious targets in its efforts to tackle global warming, saying that such a move would be necessary if it wished to unlock green financing and investments.
Indonesia and the rest of the world are set to submit stronger climate plans this year in a document better known as the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). These documents – submitted every five years to the UN's climate change arm UNFCCC – will detail how each country plans to cut its emissions. UNFCCC's executive secretary Simon Stiell admitted that he had high hopes for Jakarta's upgraded NDC.
"This [NDC] is a policy document that outlines those opportunities. ... The energy transition provides an opportunity for significant inward investment, both from domestic and international [sources]," Stiell told the press on the sidelines of the 2025 Indonesia Net Zero Summit hosted by the think-tank FPCI in Jakarta.
Indonesia's current NDC commits to an emission reduction target of 31.89 percent relative to the business-as-usual scenario on its own. If Indonesia receives international assistance, the coal-reliant economy is willing to slash emissions by 43.2 percent. The archipelagic Indonesia is currently finalizing its NDC with plans to include blue carbon: the practice of storing carbon dioxide in its coastal and marine ecosystems, including seagrasses as well as coral reefs.
"The more detailed and ambitious that NDC is, the stronger the signal [that Indonesia sends] to the financial community, your own domestic [and foreign] private sector. ... That this is an attractive environment for those investments," Stiell said.
World leaders are expected to gather in Brazil for this November's UN climate summit COP30 which will have the NDC high up on its agenda. Ana Toni, the chief executive officer of COP30, acknowledged the importance of coming up with an investable NDC.
"All governments [should] bring their NDCS that are investable, that have detailed plans, sector plans, economy-wide. That would help to attract investments," Toni told the same forum via video remarks.
Jakarta has been nudging rich nations to financially back developing nations' emission targets.
In his final UN climate talks speech, Former President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said that it was financially impossible for developing nations to shift to renewables on their own. According to Jokowi's estimates, Indonesia needs over $1 trillion to achieve net zero emissions by 2060.
His successor Prabowo Subianto has made several climate promises since assuming power last October. He once claimed that Indonesia could reach its net zero ambition by 2050, a decade earlier than Jokowi's target. Prabowo said not long ago that Indonesia could hit 100 percent renewable energy by 2035.
As far as financing goes, Indonesia has received some funding pledges from rich nations and international financial institutions in a package better known as the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). The pledge topped $20 billion, although major donor US exiting the Paris Agreement sparked worries as to what would happen to the JETP funding. Germany has taken over Washington's leadership role in the JETP funding for Indonesia.
The Prabowo administration has been banking on its sovereign fund Danantara to bring in investments, including those related to green energy. Danantara–which has the state-run electricity firm PLN under its wings–not long ago unveiled a $10 billion partnership with Saudi energy firm ACWA Power. The Riyadh-based company will explore investments in Indonesia's renewable energy, green hydrogen, water desalination, among others.