VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The government is committed to continuing to encourage the development of bio-hydrocarbon biofuels, which have the same or even better characteristics than hydrocarbon compounds or fossil-based fuels.

"Bio-hydrocarbon biofuel that is environmentally friendly can later be used directly as a substitute for fossil fuels with no adjustments to vehicle engines," said the Head of the Human Resources Development Agency of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Prahoro Yulijanto Nurtjahyo at the opening of the webinar entitled Welcoming the Era of Bio-hydrocarbons in Indonesia, on Wednesday.

In his statement in Jakarta, Wednesday, Prahoro said that bio-hydrocarbon biofuel can be divided into green gasoline, green diesel, and bio-jet fuel.

Tatang Hernas Soerawidjaja, a webinar speaker who is also the Chair of the Indonesian Bioenergy Expert Association (IKABI) said that Indonesia has extraordinary wealth which enabled it to become the center of world bio-hydrocarbons and developed countries in the era of a bio-based economy (bio-based economy).

"Hopefully, the innovation of the Indonesian nation's children will empower this extraordinary vegetable wealth to become a potential driving force for the strong and rapid growth of the country's economy," he said.

On the same occasion, Lies Aisyah, PPTMGB Lemigas researcher, hopes that the development of biofuel for energy should reduce dependence on imported oil and to replace diesel and gasoline, which currently has the mandatory implementation for diesel at the B30 level.

Government policies in the mandatory direction of biodiesel and the development of bio-hydrocarbons or green fuels are absolutely necessary to encourage national energy security, save foreign exchange, and reduce CO2 emissions.

"The formulation of the direction of the bio-hydrocarbon policy and the formulation of standards and quality (specifications) and the nomenclature are the top priorities," said Lies.

Andianto Hidayat, VP of Downstream Research Technology Innovation of PT Pertamina (Persero), revealed Indonesia's readiness in welcoming the bio-hydrocarbon era with the initiation of domestic catalyst products (Red and White catalysts) and the synergy of state-owned enterprises.

"The acceleration of research, testing, and development of bio-hydrocarbons (Pertamina's bio-refinery project) does not escape the government's support, especially the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in providing relaxation of biodiesel prices," he said. (Antaranews)

The United States formally exited the Paris Agreement on Wednesday, fulfilling a years-long promise by President Donald Trump to withdraw the world’s second-largest greenhouse gas emitter from the global pact to fight climate change.

But the outcome of the tight U.S. election contest will determine for how long. Trump’s Democratic rival, Joe Biden, has promised to rejoin the agreement if elected.

“The U.S. withdrawal will leave a gap in our regime, and the global efforts to achieve the goals and ambitions of the Paris Agreement,” said Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The United States still remains a party to the UNFCCC. Espinosa said the body will be “ready to assist the U.S. in any effort in order to rejoin the Paris Agreement.”

Trump first announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the pact in June 2017, arguing it would undermine the U.S. economy. But he was unable to formally do so until now because of the requirements of the deal.

The departure makes the United States the only country of 197 signatories to have withdrawn from the agreement, hashed out in 2015. Obama’s White House had pledged to cut U.S. emissions 26-28% by 2025 from 2005 levels under the deal.

Biden is broadly expected to ramp up those goals if elected. He has promised to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 under a sweeping $2 trillion plan to transform the economy.

The Rhodium Group said that in 2020, the United States will be at around 21% below 2005 levels. It added that under a second Trump administration, it expects U.S. emissions would increase by more than 30% through 2035 from 2019 levels.

Most scientists believe the world must cut emissions sharply and quickly in order to avoid the most catastrophic effects of global warming. China, Japan, South Korea, and the European Union have recently ramped up their carbon-cutting targets. (Reuters)

Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government continues to encourage improvements in the quality of domestic facilities so that people can spend their money in the country.

"We are happy that so far no one has traveled outside Indonesia, thus we are improving the quality of health, tourism, and other facilities in Indonesia," he said in his presentation at the 7th Singapore Dialogue on Sustainable World Resources (SDSWR) virtually in Jakarta, Wednesday.

Thus, the Indonesian people can spend their money domestically so that the wheels of the economy can continue to rotate. Luhut added, apart from encouraging quality improvement in all fields, the COVID-19 pandemic is also considered to have a positive side to discipline the public.

He gave an example of the use of masks which are now increasingly being carried out, especially because there are sanctions for violating this obligation.

"We see COVID-19 having a positive impact because this is the time for us to reform many things. Foreigners do not realize what we are doing now, even domestic people are not aware that we are carrying out many reforms," ​​he said.

Previously, Luhut said the COVID-19 pandemic had pushed reforms in several fields in Indonesia, although the impact was considered quite painful. Several reforms, including in the fields of health to energy.

Luhut also often said reforms were due to pandemic conditions. For example, Indonesia, which was previously heavily dependent on imports, has now encouraged independence to supply its own domestic pharmaceutical needs.

"Even though COVID-19 is very painful for everyone, this is also a blessing for us because we can do a lot of reforms," he said in front of investors and representatives of the Australian government, in Jakarta, last September. (Antaranews)

The Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan invited Singaporean investors to participate in several government projects ranging from mangrove planting programs to developing food barns or food estates in North Sumatra.

"I think Singapore can also be part of the mangrove planting program. With Abu Dhabi, we are targeting 10 thousand hectares. We can give Singapore a special area and being part of this program," said Luhut at the 7th Singapore Dialogue on Sustainable World Resources event (SDSWR) virtually, Wednesday.

Singapore's Minister of Sustainability and Environment Grace Fu also attended the SDSWR, which was organized by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

As a country that has 202 mangrove species, Indonesia awaits Singapore's presence in the program, including in its research field. Luhut added that Indonesia also has a hydropower potential of up to 35 thousand MW in Kalimantan and Papua, which will become energy and environmentally friendly products.

"Singapore could be a part of this project, for example. We have had discussions with Australia and they have sent a team to see this megaproject," he said.

Luhut said that another program that is being developed by Indonesia is lithium batteries because of the abundant supply of raw materials.

Several investors such as LG, CATL, and Tesla have communicated with Luhut regarding the mineral resource downstream program.

"We are doing this, we no longer want to export raw materials anymore. We want to see technology transfer in Indonesia, we want to see the industry in Indonesia. That's our dream," he said.

Another project offered to Singapore is the development of a food estate in Humbang Hasundutan, North Sumatra. Luhut said the Indonesian government plans to develop two food barns, namely in Central Kalimantan and North Sumatra.

"We want to see your presence (Singapore). If you want to enter the horticulture (field) in Lake Toba, there are 60 thousand hectares of land there. Of course, we also want our neighbors to be part of this program. There are 300 thousand herbal species in Indonesia," he said. (Antaranews)