Clean Energy as part of Climate Change Adaptation

 Basic Knowledge in Energy and Climate Change

Within these few months, i have been working in the context of climate and energy sectors. As a newbie in these sectors, i simply learn that fossile fuel (oil,gas, and coal) contributes to climate change. Fact saids that they are non-renewable and currently supply around 80% of the world's energy. Following the Paris Agreement as a legally binding international treaty on climate change that was adopted by 196 Parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, France, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016, it sets out a global framework to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C - emissions need to be reduced by 45% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

The agreement also aims to help countries adapt to climate change effects, and mobilize enough finance. Under the agreement, each country must determine, plan, and regularly report on its contributions. Since 2020, countries have been submitting their national climate action plans, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Each successive NDC is meant to reflect an increasingly higher degree of ambition compared to the previous version. In their NDCs, countries communicate actions they will take to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in order to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement. Countries also communicate in their NDCs actions they will take to build resilience to adapt to the impacts of climate change. 

The Paris Agreement provides a framework for financial, technical and capacity building support to those countries who need it. With the Paris Agreement, countries established an enhanced transparency framework (ETF). Under ETF, starting in 2024, countries will report transparently on actions taken and progress in climate change mitigation, adaptation measures and support provided or received. It also provides for international procedures for the review of the submitted reports. The information gathered through the ETF will feed into the Global stocktake which will assess the collective progress towards the long-term climate goals.

With the sets of goals that need to be achieved, especially for 195 countries that have signed the Paris Agreement and 190 out of the have ratified it as of January 2021, therefore the pressure is on for those countries that are contributing more to the increasing of carbon emission that led to climate crisis. Based on ClimateTrade, 10 countries that produce the most emissions, measured in millions of tons of CO2 in 2019, based on higher ranking including: China, USA, India, Russia, Japan, Germany, Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia. Some of these countries are now leading in clean energy race, through renewable sources such as solar, wind, hydro, biomass, geothermal, biofuels, and marines. 

As part of the global support to accelerate climate actions, Indonesia has become the world's largest recipient of environmental grants from the multilateral Global Environment Facility (GEF): More than US$100 million will be given to the Indonesian government over the next four years. Indonesia will receive the most grant funds, even higher than China, Brazil, and India due to its combination of natural wealth, biodiversity, and the threat of climate change makes Indonesia an eligible recipient. 

According to GEF, Indonesia will receive US$103 million in grants. Of this amount, US$82 million will be focused on projects related to biodiversity. The rest will be used for climate change projects (US$ 20 million), and land degradation (US$ 1.4 million). Other recipients like China will receive US$93 million, Brazil and India will receive US$79 million and US$89 million respectively.

GEF will provide the funds directly to the government, despite that GEF actually wants the organization to collaborate directly with civil society organizations (CSOs). Yet, the [grantee country] government doesn't like that idea because they concerned that if funds are given to CSOs, the funds they will get will decrease. Whilst the GEF considers the need for long-term and systematic investment in civil society. 

In overall to ensure the effectiveness of the funding, the countries should develop a comprehensive plan from national to local level. A local development planing mechanism such as Musrenbang that applies in Indonesia can accomodate the aspirations from CSOs related to the use of local indigeneous knowledge and modern technology/practices in applying clean energy policy and programme. Engagement of private sectors in clean energy and climate change also needs to be improved, such as through the application of Guideline on Private Sector Engagement in Climate Change Adaptation that published by the Indonesia Fiscal Body, can be used as a good example (https://fiskal.kemenkeu.go.id/nda_gcf/en/publications/private-sector-opportunities-in-climate-change-adaptation-projects).

Lastly, the government should consider to develops an operational joint actions plan that combines the contextualities of Disaster Risk Reduction, Biodiversity, Environmental, Climate Change, and Clean Energy, as currently these plans are developed seperately under each respective ministries or agency.