VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

President Joko Widodo attends the ASEAN leaders' meeting with US Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington D.C., on May 13. 2022. (ANTARA/HO-Press Bureau of Presidential Secretariat/Laily Rachev/uyu) - 

Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has encouraged the establishment of the ASEAN and United States (US) partnership in dealing with climate change and highlighted three important aspects on climate change mitigation.

“(The three aspects are) climate financing must be fulfilled, cooperation on energy transition needs to be strengthened, while green investment has to be increased," Jokowi stated at the ASEAN leaders' meeting with US Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington D.C. on Friday.

Hence, the president has called on other developed countries to fulfill their climate financing commitment.

The head of state noted that during the 2000-2019 period, the ASEAN only received US$56 billion, or about 10 percent of the total climate financing support provided by developed countries.

“I have to be honest that the commitment of developed countries to fulfil climate financing is quite low. It becomes an obstacle in achieving the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) globally,” he pointed out.

Furthermore, President Jokowi has conveyed that ASEAN remains committed to increasing the percentage of utilization of new and renewable energy in the region, from 14 percent in 2018 to 23 percent in 2025.

"The (ASEAN’s) attempt requires clean energy investment and technology support of at least $367 billion," he stated.

Meanwhile, energy transition programs in Indonesia will require $30 billion for the next eight years, he noted.

The president stated that Indonesia has huge renewable energy potentials for implementing energy transition programs, including electricity potential of around 437 Gigawatts (GW) from solar, wind, and geothermal energy.

Currently, the utilization of renewable energy in Indonesia has only reached 0.3 percent of the total potential.

"Indonesia also has great prospects as a hub for the development of the electric vehicle ecosystem in the (ASEAN) region," Jokowi remarked.

The president also noted that green economy and investment had huge potential to be developed in future. Hence, an effective mechanism is required to facilitate the government as well as the public and private business players to collaborate.

"Investment in green infrastructure development can become an important aspect of the ASEAN-US collaboration that requires at least US$2 trillion in the next 10 years," he added//ANT