Jakarta, The Indonesia Post – Indonesia and Japan have agreed to establish a Task Force to accelerate the development of the energy transition and supporting infrastructure.
Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) and Special Advisor to the Japanese Cabinet Tadashi Maeda met to approve and discuss the structure of the Task Force.
“Japan, through JBIC and METI, provides funding for collaborative projects in this Task Force through the Green Innovation Fund amounting to two trillion yen every year or around IDR 207 trillion per year. “This funding can help accelerate the energy transition in Indonesia,” said Coordinating Minister Airlangga in an official statement in Jakarta, Thursday.
The agreed Task Force has a structure consisting of (1) a Steering Committee which includes policy makers at Ministerial level, (2) an expert group managed by senior officials from the Indonesian Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Japan and JBIC.
Apart from that, the Task Force also involves officials from relevant ministries and corporations.
During the meeting, several potential sectors were also discussed including the development of a hydropower plant in Kayan, North Kalimantan to replace the PLTU in Java, the development of efficient technology for Geothermal Power Plants, Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS), blue urea as well as revitalizing peat areas with Japanese technology.
Coordinating Minister Airlangga stated that he had assigned his ministry together with JBIC and METI to discuss the technical details of discussing this issue.
Apart from agreeing on the Task Force, Coordinating Minister Airlangga and Maeda discussed the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) and other potential projects that will be implemented under the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC).
The JCM scheme is the most likely collaboration between Indonesia and Japan to mitigate carbon, where JCM has an important role in helping formulate national policies regarding carbon pricing.
“Implementation of JCM is also considered capable of encouraging the private sector to strengthen their confidence in participating in climate action,” he said.
Currently, Indonesia intends to launch a carbon exchange that allows various types of carbon to be traded. With support from Japan related to JCM, Indonesia can implement as many as 54 JCM projects and carry out at least 150 feasibility studies related to carbon emission reduction programs.
On this occasion, the Japanese government also conveyed plans for a high-level AZEC meeting to coincide with the 50th anniversary of ASEAN-Japan in Tokyo in December 2023 and asked Indonesia to support this event. (mhn/bbs)
Comment