COP27: Indonesia gets $20 billion to reduce dependence on coal

CLIMATE After South Africa last year, it is Indonesia’s turn to benefit from a partnership for a just transition with a coalition of rich countries. 20 billion dollars will be granted to help it decarbonize its energy -to-reduce-its-dependence-on-coal-006ee17.jpg” alt=”COP27: Indonesia gets $20 billion to reduce its dependence on coal” />

A coal-fired power plant in operation on September 21, 2021 in Cilegon, Indonesia. — Photo by BAY ISMOYO/AFP

Twenty billion dollars… This is the sum that has been committed. to contribute a group of wealthy countries and international institutions to Indonesia, the fourth most populous country of the world, to reduce its dependence on coal, from which it draws 62% of its electricity production.

The United States, France, Canada and the Kingdom United are among the contributors to; this investment plan, announced by the White House on Tuesday on the sidelines of the G20 major economies summit on the Indonesian island of Bali.

After South Africa… Indonesia

This Just Transition Partnership (JETP) is not the first of its kind between a developing country and a coalition of rich countries. Already last year, during the COP26 in Glasgow, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States and the European Union announced that they were putting on the table 8.5  billion dollars to finance the energy transition of South Africa, another country highly dependent on coal.

This new JETP will allow Indonesia to advance its objective of neutrality by ten years; carbon, at 2050. The funding obtained over a period of three to three years; five years are shared between half between public and private, in the form of aid, credit guarantees or private investments.

“A very strong signal, not only in the Pacific  ;»

The principle of this mechanism had been launched Monday during a ceremony at bali. He had been presented by Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Muliani Indrawati as “an extraordinary step” sending “a very strong signal not just to the Pacific but to the whole world”.

“Indonesia is home to almost 300 million people, tens of millions of whom are at risk from natural disasters due to climate change, especially those living in areas with high temperatures. low altitude”, in this archipelago of 17,000 islands, she pointed out. during the ceremony.

Several power plants at; coal in the crosshairs

She said she hoped that her country could thus “accelerate the transition to renewable energies”, by anticipating the closure of power plants to ; coal, while acknowledging that it was “not easy”, not least because of the costs. According to her, the Indonesian government has identified several power plants at; coal that can be closed representing a total power of 15 gigawatts.