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Today's Headlines Environment
It was well back during the ‘Oslo Climate and Forest Conference’, held in Norway on 26-27 May 2010, when Indonesia and Norway announced a partnership through which Norway would grant (the equivalent of) USD $1 billion in aid to Indonesia for forest preservation and climate control.
On 7 June 2021 Indonesia Investments released its new report, titled Road to Net Zero Emissions. In this report we discuss a selection of relevant topics (related to politics, the economy, and social matters) with a special emphasis on how political, ideological, and socio-economic developments in the West impact on Indonesia. One might wonder to what extent does Western imperialism in Asia continue up to the present day?
Plastic waste is a huge problem in Indonesia. Over the past few years, various images surfaced on the Internet and media showing how beaches on Bali – the famous island that forms the most popular tourist destination in Indonesia - are swamped by plastic garbage. Another example is the city of Bandung (West Java) where the Indonesian army had to lend a helping hand last year to fish plastic garbage out of local rivers.
On Monday (08/04) Indonesia Investments released the March 2019 edition of its monthly research report. The report aims to inform the reader of the key political, economic and social developments that occurred in Indonesia in the month of March 2019 and also touches upon key international developments that impacted on the Indonesian economy.
As is widely known, especially to those who have visited certain beaches in Bali, Indonesia needs to combat water pollution, and specifically plastic waste. While local authorities on Bali announced earlier this week to enact a ban on single-use plastics, such as shopping bags, styrofoam food packets and straws (while Jakarta may follow suit), Indonesia's Industry Ministry expressed it opposes an earlier plan to impose an excise tax on plastic bags.
Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (SMI), a fully state-owned infrastructure financing company that plays an active role in facilitating infrastructure development across Indonesia, became the first corporate entity to issue green bonds in Indonesia. The green bonds were listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Tuesday morning (10/07).
In local media in Indonesia it is reported that the Indonesian government, in this case the Trade Ministry of Indonesia, claims that Norway is on the brink of provoking a trade war against Indonesia. Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita threatens Norway with retaliation if the Norwegian government goes ahead with parliament's vote to ban the public procurement and use of palm oil-based biofuel.
Discussions about the regulatory framework - including incentives - for the electric car industry in Indonesia are ongoing. Hence, stakeholders in the country's automotive industry are eagerly awaiting for results of government discussions and a roadmap before investing in manufacturing facilities for the launch of electric cars on the Indonesian market.
The government of Indonesia raised USD $1.25 billion through the issuance of global "green" bonds, hence becoming the first Asian country to issue this type of bond. With the proceeds from the green bond the Indonesian government will fund projects that have positive environmental and/or climate benefits.
So far, an area of 1.9 million hectares of oil palm plantations, which can produce up to 8.2 million tons of crude palm oil (CPO), has been certified under the Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) scheme. As of August 29, 306 ISPO certificates have been granted to 304 Indonesian oil palm companies, one plasma farming association, and one farmer self-help cooperative. The above-mentioned figure includes the 40 ISPO certificates that were submitted today to local palm oil companies.
Latest Columns Environment
Currently, coal certainly ranks among the most interesting commodities. On the one hand, Indonesia expressed its commitment to reduce consumption of this dirty fossil fuel (that is especially used as raw material for the generation of electricity in power plants but also in various manufacturing industries such as the cement industry and textile industry) as the country seeks to become ‘carbon neutral’ by 2060 (although many doubt to what extent Indonesia is really committed to this ambition; after all, it has more immediate concerns such as the dozens of millions of Indonesians living below, and just above, the national poverty threshold).
Those who’ve ever visited Indonesia should be well aware that the country is facing some serious environmental issues, with the underlying reason seemingly being low environmental awareness among the inhabitants of this beautiful country. Such low awareness is actually something that seems commonly shared among the people in developing nations, hinting that there exists a link between the level of per capita gross domestic product and the level of concern for the environment.
Contrary to our usual coverage, in this edition of the monthly Indonesia Investments’ report there is some emphasis on political and socioeconomic developments in the West (referring to the United States and the European Union). The main reason for this is that the West – and we have seen this throughout history (for example during colonial days) – has a huge influence on the rest of the world, including Indonesia.
The severe oil spill in the Balikpapan Bay (East Kalimantan) could lead to sanctions for Indonesia's state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina. Arcandra Tahar, Deputy Minister of Indonesia's Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said his ministry is joining forces with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to investigate the oil spill case. Five fishermen were killed by toxic smoke, while it is feared that severe damage has been done to marine live and the ecosystem in the area.
Stakeholders in Indonesia's pulp and paper industry are concerned about the future of this industry after Indonesia's Environment and Forestry Ministry suspended the operational activities of Indonesia's second-largest timber company, Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP), through a decree. RAPP is a unit of global pulp and paper industry giant Asia Pacific Resources International (APRIL). Meanwhile, APRIL is a unit of Singapore-based Royal Golden Eagle.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) unit in Indonesia said efforts to multiply Sumatran tiger populations (panthera tigris sumatrae) are constrained because those forest areas ("pockets of forest") that are the habitat of this endangered species has become increasingly small. Despite the challenges, Aditya Bayunanda, WWF Indonesia's Policy, Sustainability and Transformation Director, said the WWF continues to fight for the tiger. On Friday (28/07) WWF Indonesia launched the "double tiger" program (abbreviated as Tx2) in Jakarta.
Non-governmental environmental organization Greenpeace blocked all import and export channels of crude palm oil (CPO) trader IOI on Tuesday morning (27/09) in the harbor of Rotterdam (the Netherlands), the city that acts as palm oil’s gateway into Europe. Greenpeace activists decided to take action after a Greenpeace International report showed that palm oil from companies that are reportedly involved in forest destruction, peatland fires and child labor is still flowing into Europe and the USA through IOI facilities.
A year ago - between June and October 2015 - severe man-made forest fires on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan released some 11.3 million tons of carbon per day, caused Indonesia to experience damages estimated at 1.9 percent of GDP (World Bank estimate), and spread toxic haze to other parts of Southeast Asia. Not only its regional neighbors but most of the world directed its anger at Indonesian authorities that failed to combat the fires, and more importantly, failed to uphold laws that forbid the slash-and-burn practice.
Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources will soon issue a moratorium on new coal mining concessions. This moratorium will be implemented after the issuance of a planned presidential instruction regarding a five-year moratorium on new palm oil plantation concessions. Heriyanto, Head of the Legal Department Directorate General of Minerals and Coal at the Energy Ministry, emphasized that the moratorium in Indonesia's mining industry only involves coal, not the mining of minerals.
Domestic coal consumption in Indonesia rose 34.5 percent (y/y) to 24.5 million tons in the January-April 2016 period, according to data from Indonesia's Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry. This growth is caused by higher domestic coal demand due to Indonesia's ambitious 35,000 MW program (many of the power plants constructed in this program are coal-fired). Meanwhile, Indonesia's coal exports were down 14 percent (y/y) to 68 million metric tons over the same period amid sluggish global demand.
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