On November 19, 2024, President Prabowo attended the G20 Summit in Brazil, where he reaffirmed Indonesia’s commitment to achieving net zero emissions (NZE) before 2050. To realize this ambitious vision, President Prabowo outlined strategies to increase the use of palm oil-based biodiesel, phase out coal-fired power plants (PLTU) early, and develop renewable energy power plants with a capacity of up to 75 GW within 15 years.1
This, he emphasized, is to ensure that climate change does not exacerbate poverty and hunger.
“Indonesia is suffering from the impacts of climate change. Our coastal areas are now inundated by a sea level rise of 5 cm per year. We have lost hundreds of thousands of hectares of productive and fertile land. Our farmers and fishermen are now living in these difficult conditions, which will worsen poverty and hunger. Therefore, for Indonesia, there is no other alternative,” he asserted before world leaders.2
It is entirely appropriate that Indonesia has run out of options in addressing the threat of climate change driven by human activities. However, this must stem from the understanding that the energy transition to tackle climate change is not solely about achieving NZE.
Energy transition is about addressing the injustice caused by the greed of a few who exceed the environment’s carrying capacity, robbing the majority who are most affected by the resulting damage.
Quoting notes from Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Indonesia, a just energy transition cannot be separated from the fundamental issues of the social and political-economic dimensions of the extractive economic development paradigm.3 It is not enough to merely envision a shift from one technology to another.
This implies a paradigm shift from short-term, narrow calculations to broader, progressive ideas oriented toward the future.
Rather than being ambitious, setting NZE as the sole target risks limiting the scope of energy transition to sectoral issues that are always justified through the lens of economic growth alone. This is because an energy transition that is not mere rhetoric is one that acknowledges the intersectionality of the climate crisis’s impacts.
We must get accustomed to envisioning that environmental health is part of human health when discussing energy transition in the context of the climate crisis. Consequently, the government must also address socio-ecological issues beyond carbon emission targets, such as inequality, overconsumption, health, or biodiversity.
For example, can the use of biodiesel or the conversion of coal-fired power plants to renewable energy truly help the farmers and fishermen who are said to suffer the most from the climate crisis? When President Prabowo talks about converting coal-fired power plants to renewable energy, how significant is the role of renewable energy in that process?
Avoiding Extractive Exploitation for a Sustainable Energy Transition
If President Prabowo laments the environmental degradation of hundreds of thousands of hectares of land submerged due to sea level rise, then he should also feel the loss caused by deforestation’s impact on indigenous communities’ living spaces and ecosystem integrity.
In reality, the Indonesian government has long normalized deforestation for economic growth.4 For instance, legal deforestation in 2022 alone reached up to 65,100 hectares in palm oil and forestry concessions.5 This is far higher than the 29,261 hectares of coastal land lost due to sea level rise over fifteen years (2000-2014).6
Environmental damage due to externalities is one thing; deliberately planning environmental destruction is another. This is also reflected in Indonesia’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement, which does not adopt zero deforestation in its strategy.
To ensure that President Prabowo’s policies do not become mere rhetoric, the target of achieving NZE should not perpetuate the extractivist mentality that causes environmental damage.
There needs to be a fundamental evaluation of the commodification of natural resources to ensure that sustainability is not achieved at the cost of further ecological damage.
For example, promoting biodiesel as a renewable energy source must consider broader implications, such as overconsumption due to reliance on vehicle use and the threat of deforestation from biodiesel production needs.
Moreover, biodiesel sourced from palm oil means increasingly placing the burden of energy transition on the environment. Too much energy would be spent supporting such short-term solutions. At the same time, community-based renewable energy sources like solar and wind power have not received much support.
President Prabowo would greatly benefit from referring to civil society’s notes on false solutions in energy transition. Civil society has repeatedly warned about the potential risks of utilizing biomass-based energy.
For instance, the practice of co-firing, which cannot fully replace the role of coal-fired power plants, may worsen the situation by encouraging the intensification and expansion of land for energy plantations.
This risks displacing a key element of Indonesia’s wealth—biodiversity—which is often celebrated but sadly overlooked as a valuable asset.
“The use of wood pellet biomass as an energy source will only create an emission debt because it comes from the destruction of natural forests. Natural forests are one of the ecosystems that store the most carbon compared to plantation forests. One hectare of natural forest can store 245 tons of carbon, while plantation forests can only store 107.86 tons of carbon per hectare,” said Anggi Putra Prayoga, Campaign, Advocacy, and Media Manager at FWI.7
Caution is needed if there is an overreliance on land conversion and deforestation. Such extractivism does not address net-negative emissions and will only shift emissions to land clearing.
In Indonesia specifically, data from 2000–2023 compiled by the Directorate of Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification shows that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are primarily driven by the forestry sector.8
As President Prabowo stated initially, we cannot take this lightly. Indonesia’s options are limited: a worsening climate crisis will increasingly harm marginalized communities.
Promoting Transparency and Public Participation
We need democratic governance based on justice. We must not open new loopholes. Indonesia also supports the development of captive coal-fired power plants for industrial expansion. Like deforestation, the government also intends to extend the lifespan of these fossil fuel-based power plants.
If this is not addressed critically, Indonesia risks continuously harming itself through unsustainable policies. The government can take concrete steps by transparently disclosing data on social and environmental impacts to the public. This step is crucial to reducing information asymmetry between policymakers and the public as beneficiaries and ensuring that energy resource governance does not exceed the environment’s biophysical limits.
A true energy transition, one that is not mere rhetoric, requires active public participation as overseers in every multisectoral energy transition policy.
Additionally, President Prabowo can play a more active role in protecting the interests of civil society and the environment, ensuring that industrial interests do not sacrifice them.
Over the past decade, the government has seemed overly focused on acting as an administrator for oligarchs and their interests. So serious is this focus that various forms of deregulation have been implemented solely to attract foreign investment.
This means the government has never lacked political will and can apply it to prioritize Indonesia’s opportunity to become a global leader in a just energy transition agenda.
This can be rectified through President Prabowo’s leadership, which upholds the spirit of Pancasila Economics in Asta Cita. This economic philosophy opens wide opportunities for innovation through market freedom while also ensuring and guaranteeing a social safety net for the most vulnerable communities.
All of this can be realized if President Prabowo also recognizes his role in siding with ecological interests as inseparable from the aspiration for social welfare in the development he envisions. When violated, we will only be closing one hole by opening another. It must be remembered: there is no prosperity on a dead planet.
- Third Session of the G20 Brazil Summit, President Prabowo Affirms Indonesia’s Commitment to Sustainable Development and Energy Transition. https://www.presidenri.go.id/siaran-pers/sesi-ketiga-ktt-g20-brasil-presiden-prabowo-tegaskan-komitmen-indonesia-pada-pembangunan-berkelanjutan-dan-transisi-energi/
- President Prabowo’s Statement at the Third Session of the G20 Brazil Summit, November 19, 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upjeBhV5Tj4
- Mainstreaming Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) in a Just Energy Transition in Indonesia https://pwypindonesia.org/id/pengarusutamaan-kesetaraan-gender-disabilitas-dan-inklusi-sosial-gedsi-dalam-transisi-energi-berkeadilan-di-indonesia/
- Deforestation in Indonesia hits record low, but experts fear a rebound https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/2021-deforestation-in-indonesia-hits-record-low-but-experts-fear-a-rebound/
- KLHK’S DEFORESTATION CLAIM: Lowest Point or Different Calculation Method? https://fwi.or.id/klaim-deforestasi-klhk-berbeda-dengan-ngo
- Indonesia has lost land equal to size of Jakarta in last 15 years https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/07/07/indonesia-has-lost-land-equal-to-size-of-jakarta-in-last-15-years.html
- IGL Energy Plantation, an HTE Project Driving Deforestation in Gorontalo’s Forests https://fwi.or.id/proyek-hte-yang-mendorong-deforestasi-hutan-gorontalo/
- National GHG Emissions https://signsmart.menlhk.go.id/v2.1/app/