









































Abstract: How should nations come together to confront our global climate crisis? The purpose of this article is 
to explore Indonesia’s role in contributing to and addressing climate change. I examine  Indonesia’s key climate 
challenges and then discuss the nation’s corresponding responses in the context of international policymaking. After 
reflecting on concepts like climate justice, I propose further efforts that Indonesia as a whole can take to strengthen its 
sustainability endeavors. With a call for increased ambition at the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference, 
the urgency of highlighting Indonesia’s importance in global climate negotiations is paramount.

Aisthesis      Volume 11,  202019

Indonesia Under the Radar: An Evaluation of the Archipelago’s 
Climate Challenges and Policy Response

by Christina Woodrow

Introduction
 Home to the world’s fourth-largest population 
of over 250 million people, Indonesia encompasses 
a wide variety of ethnic and geographic diversity.1 It 
is thus unsurprising that the archipelagic state faces 
many environmental challenges and has a growing 
presence in international climate change dialogue. 
As the fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases 
in 2015, Indonesia has not been enacting enough 
measures to reduce its immense footprint.2 Despite 
having a track record as alarming as other major 
polluters like China, India, and the United States, 
Indonesia seems to have avoided as much widespread 
criticism.3 More effective, streamlined efforts are 
needed in order to mitigate and adapt to climate 
change within Indonesia, and it is worth examining 
the factors that led to such dire circumstances.
 With a call for increased ambition at the 2019 
United Nations Climate Change Conference, the 
urgency of no longer letting Indonesia fly under 
the radar in global climate negotiations grows even 
more pronounced. This paper thus aims to provide 
a focused snapshot of Indonesia’s current climate 
challenges and corresponding policy responses. 
 Physical characteristics and geography. Indonesia 
is a unique archipelago that bridges Asia and 
Oceania at a juncture of the Earth’s tectonic plates.4 

With almost 14,000 islands that comprise a land 
area of approximately 200 million hectares,5 50-60 
million Indonesians directly depend on the country’s 
extensive and biologically diverse tropical forests.6 

The entire population lives on approximately 6,000 of 

the total islands, which are primarily made of volcanic 
mountains that slope downward into swamps and 
coastal plains.7 Because Indonesia encompasses such 
diverse terrain, it is particularly susceptible to an 
assortment of climate risks, such as intense flooding, 
seismic activity, and land subsidence.8 At least 110 
million Indonesians, or just a little under half of the 
population, are at some form of climate risk.9 
 Overview of the economy and energy. Given the 
rich forests and natural resources that characterize 
the country’s landscape, Indonesia’s economic 
development has been largely based upon related 
industries. Even though Indonesia, the largest 
economy in Southeast Asia, is listed as a G20 
country, it heavily relies on mining, agriculture, and 
forestry, all of which have significant implications 
for the environment.10 The largest portion of 
Indonesia’s total GDP is industry, which contributes 
41% and encapsulates mining, manufacturing, 
energy production, and construction.11 Petroleum 
and natural gas are the largest of these industries, 
and their expansion presents major challenges to 
sustaining the nation’s natural capital, particularly 
its forests.12 Agriculture, including farming, fishing, 
and forestry, is also a leading cause of Indonesia’s 
deforestation;13 comprising 13.7% of the nation’s 
total GDP, the agriculture sector, which depends on 
rubber, palm oil, poultry, and beef as its key products, 
requires substantial forest conversion.14 More than 
half, 54.7%, of Indonesia’s GDP is thus tied up in 
practices that significantly contribute to one of its 
primary environmental concerns. It is also worth 



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Aisthesis      Volume 11,  202020

noting that over half of the entire working population 
is employed by these two sectors. Almost a third of 
the labor force, 32%, works in agriculture, and 21% 
works in industry.15 The nation is thus caught in a 
fragile situation where it must structurally reform its 
reliance on heavy carbon-emitting sectors but also 
ensure the livelihood of its people.
 Indonesia needs to better address the fact that its 
growth is highly unsustainable and inconsistent with 
creating a safe climate future. As seen in Figure 1, 
the most recent data distributed by the Indonesian 
government in 2014 indicates that the main sectors 
contributing to Indonesia’s emissions were land use, 
land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) at 53% and 
energy at 33%.16 These emission sources align with 
the aforementioned key contributors to Indonesia’s 
economy: industry and agriculture. While LULUCF 
emissions are considered separate from agriculture 
emissions, they are inextricably linked because 
much of the land-use change in Indonesia is related 
to clearing land for the prominent palm oil industry 
and other extractive farming practices.17 
 With regard to energy, Indonesia has been 
consistently struggling, in that energy emissions 
between 2010 and 2014 had an annual increase of 
approximately 5.2%.18 Furthermore, Figure 1 shows 
that if LULUCF emissions were not counted, energy 
would comprise 70% of Indonesia’s emissions.19 

According to a 2019 report on G20 countries, 
Indonesia in particular burns an increasing amount 
of coal for electricity.20 It is also worth noting that 
even though the nation appears to have plenty of 
power fueled by coal, the government admits that 
it struggles to adequately fulfill energy demands.21 

Indonesia has more than 28 million people below 
the national poverty line, and a large section of 
the population lacks access to basic services like 
electricity.22 The Indonesian government also 
recognizes that climate change will only make it more 
difficult for people to escape this kind of poverty.23 
 Given that the majority of Indonesia’s emissions 
come from its land-use and energy sectors, it is 
important to consider how the systems that allowed 
for these unstable foundations can be adjusted. If 
business and government stakeholders are unable 
to change their ways, the consequences of climate 
change will only worsen as a pervasive strain on the 
lives of everyday people.

Climate Challenges
      The biggest challenge faced by contemporary 
society is finding ways to sustain both people and 
the natural environment. Even before widespread 
outcry about climate change, Indonesia has 
struggled with this concept and been characterized 
as a “supermarket” of natural disasters.24 In the past 
20 years, the government has officially recorded over 
24,000 disaster events, including flooding, seismic 
activity, and volcanic eruptions, among other 
incidents.25,26 Unnatural levels of greenhouse gas 
emissions are at the heart of these issues, disrupting 
environmental phenomena’s natural equilibrium and 
intensifying their harmful effects. For Indonesia in 
particular, high emissions, rapid-onset disasters like 
massive flooding, and more slow-onset problems 
like deforestation and peat burning have emerged as 
some of the country’s main environmental concerns.
 Emissions. International bodies like the United 
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) 
have found that emissions are following a highly 
discouraging trend worldwide; as of November 2019, 
UNEP asserts that emissions need to drop 7.6% every 
year between 2020 and 2030 if the world is to reach its 
1.5°C Paris Agreement goal.27 G20 countries, which 
include Indonesia, comprise more than 78% of the 
world’s emissions, so it is vital to hold Indonesia and 
other member countries that lack a net-zero emission 
target especially accountable.28 Another report states 
that by 2030, G20 countries need to reduce current 
greenhouse gas emissions by a minimum of 45% in 
order to meet the 1.5°C target.29 Indonesia thus has 
one of the biggest opportunities to demonstrate that 
society is willing to change and lead the world into 
a sustainable, prosperous future. As one of the most 
physically vulnerable countries as well, Indonesia 
has a unique position to prove that climate change 
is a threat multiplier, exacerbating issues not only in 
Indonesia but on a global scale.
 Flooding. As an archipelago with up to 42 million 
people living in low-lying coastal zones, rising 
sea levels—as a direct consequence of greenhouse 
gas emissions—are one of the largest and most 
immediate threats to the people of Indonesia.30 

In 2004, the Indian Ocean Tsunami killed 167,000 
people in Indonesia alone and cost around 10 billion 
dollars in damage.31 The frequency of these kinds 
of catastrophes may very well increase as a result 
of anthropogenic climate change, and since May 
2016, Indonesia has been experiencing an unusually 



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high number of floods and landslides such that 
their ability to respond to future disasters has been 
negatively affected.32 Climate-related migration and 
displacement may become a harsh new norm for 
Indonesians, especially the 20.19% of the population 
that is vulnerable of falling into poverty.33 It is not 
easy for people to be uprooted from their homes, and 
trying to recover from this kind of displacement can 
easily put citizens and the country as a whole into a 
difficult situation.
 Deforestation. Deforestation is another major 
climate challenge because it decimates carbon 
sinks, thus making itself not only a detriment to 
biodiversity and ecosystem services but also a 
prominent contributor to Indonesia’s greenhouse gas 
emissions. In fact, emissions from destroyed forests 
are higher than those from cars, trucks, ships, and 
planes combined.34 Deforestation also directly hurts 
Indonesia’s citizens because the loss of forests often 
increases the burden on people in rural areas who 
depend on forests for food, firewood, and other 
materials. With around 45% of the Indonesian 
population living in rural areas, natural resources 
are paramount to their way of life.35 Despite this fact, 
Indonesia still has one of the highest deforestation 
rates in the world in part because of its economy’s 
reliance on the palm oil industry.36 As seen in Figure 
2, palm oil mills scatter the entire country and are 
located near major population and forest hubs on 
the archipelago. While the production of palm oil 
has been the country’s biggest historical driver of 
deforestation,37 it is also important to note that a 
massive amount of LULUCF emissions in Indonesia 
are a result of a specific type of deforestation: the 
destruction of peatlands.
 Peat burning. Peatlands are a type of wetland that 
hold about 12 times more carbon than other tropical 
rainforests.38 Peat is often degraded by humans 
clearing it for agricultural land, and as water leaves 
the peat during the dry season, its carbon material 
becomes highly flammable and leads to fires that are 
catastrophic to both people and the atmosphere. One 
hectare of peatland can release around 6,000 metric 
tons of carbon dioxide when destroyed, and in 2015, 
these effects were felt internationally.39 An intensified 
El Niño led to an especially dry season in which 
there were so many peat fires that the resultant toxic 
smoke caused tens of thousands of deaths in nearby 

Singapore and Malaysia. 2.6 million hectares of land 
and forest were also lost, and billions of metric tons 
of carbon were released.40 
 These rapid-onset and slow-onset climate 
change impacts make adequately addressing climate 
change even more difficult, and Indonesia’s internal 
challenges are important to consider because the 
nation will ultimately have a global impact as one 
of the biggest contenders in ensuring a sustainable 
future. Therefore, its proposed policy responses to 
these climate challenges merit significant discussion.

Policy Response
 As a signatory to the 2015 Paris Agreement, 
Indonesia details its climate objectives and action 
plan through 2020 and beyond in a nationally 
determined contribution, or NDC.41 This essential 
document describes the nation’s two main policy 
types: mitigation that reduces greenhouse gas 
emissions and adaptation that promotes resilience 
in the face of climate challenges. In accordance with 
typical climate response measures, Indonesia’s NDC 
highlights the particular importance of sustainable 
forest management and technological innovation for 
addressing its own climate priorities. 
 Nationally determined contribution. Published 
in November 2016, Indonesia’s first NDC shared 
an overall vision for achieving “archipelagic climate 
resilience as a result of comprehensive adaptation 
and mitigation programmes and disaster risk 
reduction strategies.”42 By 2030, Indonesia pledged 
to unconditionally have a 29% reduction of business-
as-usual (BAU) emissions or conditionally have up 
to a 41% reduction of BAU by particularly focusing 
on land-use, including agriculture and forestry, as 
well as energy.43

 Unfortunately, the Climate Action Tracker, 
an internationally-recognized and independent 
scientific analysis conducted by Climate Analytics 
and NewClimate Institute, found these pledges to 
be “highly insufficient.”44 According to the 2019 
Emissions Gap Report, the levels of ambition in all 
NDCs must increase at least fivefold to reach the 
1.5°C goal and threefold for the 2°C goal.45 Indonesia’s 
key promises and claims to address climate change 
were rather vague and lacking in tangible actions 
and results. As seen in Figure 3, Indonesia’s policies 
as a whole have proven to be rather low-performing 



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Aisthesis      Volume 11,  202022

while other major polluters such as China have had 
some high-performing initiatives.
 REDD+. Given Indonesia’s key concern of 
mitigating LULUCF emissions, most of their most 
successful policy measures are related to the land-use 
sector. The government cites “Reducing Emissions 
from Deforestation and Forest Degradation” 
(REDD+), a mechanism developed by the United 
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 
(UNFCCC) to incentivize sustainable forestry,46 as 
an “important component” of their NDC target.47 

Indonesia’s commitment to REDD+ is evident from 
the fact that it contributed $250.6 million dollars for 
climate change mitigation, which is more than 30 
times the $7.87 million dollars that were committed 
from donor grants.48 The NDC also referenced 
“significant steps” that have been made with regard 
to a moratorium on the clearing of primary forests 
and the promotion of “social forestry,” or sustainable 
forest management with active participation from 
the private sector, civil society organizations, and 
local communities in order to “ensure greater and 
more enduring benefits from these initiatives.”49 

From these small excerpts, one can see that the 
Indonesian government prides itself on attempting 
to involve more stakeholders in climate discussions.
 Technology. Given dismal predictions for the 
future, international organizations like the Global 
Green Growth Institute indicate that achieving the 
needed level of climate response requires investing 
in technology that complements global initiatives 
like REDD+.50 Since 2010, Indonesia has been 
conducting technology needs assessments in order to 
receive assistance with implementing much desired 
climate technologies.51 According to the Climate 
Change Technology Centre & Network, past projects 
in Indonesia include a hydrodynamic flood model 
that better supported sustainable city planning in 
the capital of Jakarta.52 The most recent submission 
for technical assistance is a 2019 request for 
support with a “e-mobility transition” in Jakarta; by 
introducing electric vehicle technology in the capital 
and assessing the use of solar roofing for transit, 
Indonesia can potentially find long-term strategies 
for more sustainable development.53  While all of 
these projects are steps in the right direction, the 
inefficiency that hinders the widespread accessibility 
of these kinds of solutions throughout Indonesia, as 
well as the major lag time between new innovation 
proposals, must be addressed.

Recommendations
 Based on Indonesia’s current policy response, 
the most promising way for Indonesia to reduce 
greenhouse gas emissions and combat its climate 
challenges seems to be by strengthening existing 
measures in its NDC. More developed countries 
should extend a helping hand toward Indonesia 
because all parties would benefit; climate change 
is not an isolated issue and requires collaborative 
efforts from all stakeholders. It is vital that Indonesia 
and other countries take the time to discuss the 
plan of action for enhancing their NDCs in 2020. 
More specifically, the following ways of delivering 
concrete, positive outcomes should be considered: 
promoting overall ambition, fostering diversity and 
inclusion in the policymaking process, increasing 
sustainable finance initiatives, and expanding access 
to climate technology solutions.
 Raising ambition & capacity-building. One of the 
main goals of the Paris Agreement is to promote the 
highest level of ambition possible, and Indonesia’s 
situation as a major emitter requires them to scale 
all their pledges such that they appropriately line 
up with the aforementioned 2019 Emissions Gap 
Report. Ambition can be promoted by framing 
climate change not just as an issue of science but as a 
moral one, and this approach appears to already be 
spreading among leaders in the European Union.54

 By also building more technical capacity, 
successful implementation of Indonesia’s NDC will be 
much more within reach. The greatest opportunities 
for fundamental transformation in the long-term lies 
in major reforms in the land-use and energy sectors, 
as existing measures in both are already proving to 
be helpful. As seen in Figure 4, by increasing capacity 
for renewable energy and incorporating energy 
conservation programs, emissions could be reduced 
from the business-as-usual baseline by almost half. 
Furthermore, the graphical representation suggests 
that extending Indonesia’s forest moratorium 
and restoring even more degraded peatland will 
double their respective emissions reductions. Other 
research also indicates that protecting the primary 
forest of the Papua province in conjunction with 
the restoration of degraded lands could avoid 2.8 to 
3.3 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions, which is a 
similar quantity to the baseline emissions projected 
for 2030 in Indonesia’s NDC.55 With international 
assistance, it is likely that meeting these higher 
targets is completely feasible.



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 Inclusion. Moving forward, Indonesia should 
strengthen cooperative efforts with other relevant 
bodies both within and outside of the UNFCCC. 
To raise ambition and promote capacity-building, 
including all stakeholders in both the creation and 
implementation of NDCs is critical. The impact of 
climate change does not discriminate, yet societies 
choose to prioritize certain voices and livelihoods 
over others. Women in particular are often excluded 
from all levels of climate policymaking, but they 
should be heard at local, national, and international 
scales. In Asia, Indonesia has the third-largest 
number of women in charge of households.56 These 
women are often tasked with gathering and preparing 
food and water, so naturally, they directly face 
climate challenges and are best-prepared to identify 
adaptation priorities and what measures would serve 
their people best. Women must infiltrate all levels 
of decision-making such that their perspectives are 
brought to the forefront. 
 A successful pilot program in Indonesia’s island 
of Sumatra has supported women with education 
about organic farming, finance management, and 
nutrition. Throughout the project, the women 
found themselves better able to support their 
family’s health and nutrition, increase family income 
through finance lessons on concepts like selling 
surplus vegetables, and overall be more aware of 
sustainability measures. Now, the women dream 
of becoming a local hub for organic vegetable 
production and are researching ways to expand the 
reach of their newfound business.57 By consulting 
with women like these in a human-centered design 
approach, more projects that better fit the needs of 
the people they are intended to aid could provide 
opportunities for more equitable growth. It is crucial 
to include those who are most affected by climate 
issues in problem-solving negotiations, as they 
are likely to provide unique insight that cannot be 
gleaned otherwise. Communities are more resilient 
to climate change risks when they are able to define 
for themselves the challenges that they face and work 
together to find solutions.
 Enhanced finance. To finance grassroots 
initiatives led by women, as well as more technical 
capacity, major systemic overhauls are needed. 
A 2018 study by the Global Greengrants Fund 
and Prospera International Network of Women’s 
Funds found that grantmaking foundations only 

dedicated 0.2% of funding to explicitly support 
women-led environmental initiatives.58 In order 
to truly champion inclusivity in creating a healthy 
environment, this percentage needs to increase 
dramatically.
 Successful climate finance already exists and 
should be able to simply make its way into both Asia 
and other regions of the world. According to the CEO 
and President of Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), the 
organization has “developed environmentally sound 
solutions that can be replicated and scaled in other 
parts of the world.”59 Given NIB’s growth and success, 
other organizations should also prioritize loans 
for proposals that emphasize sustainable growth. 
Providing “soft loans,” or loans that turn into grants 
if a project fulfills agreed goals and criteria, could 
hold borrowers accountable without permanently 
increasing their debt burden, as well as incentivize 
the acceleration of their sustainable projects.60

 At the same time, though, NIB warns of 
“victims of green solutions,” or “those who could 
lose their jobs when industries change,” and seems 
to reiterate the idea of financial institutions helping 
to ensure a just transition for all, where sustainable 
finance must consider not only capital but also 
social impact.61 Once again demonstrating the 
importance of including all voices in climate change 
response, another sustainable finance institution has 
experienced major benefits from promoting gender 
equality in development projects. The Energy and 
Environment Partnership Trust Fund for Southern 
and East Africa found that in a project to distribute 
clean cookstoves and biogas solutions throughout 
the regions, women provided “valuable inputs in 
the design, manufacturing, and distribution of 
these products,” as well as a unique credibility to 
sell the products throughout their societies that 
their male counterparts lacked.62 This technology 
could certainly be transferred into rural Indonesian 
communities, which could benefit from not only 
biogas’s cleaner burn but also the resultant decrease 
in deforestation as people are able to move away 
from wood-burning. With appropriate financing, 
the development of biogas can be widely mobilized 
and perhaps help reduce the reliance on fossil fuels 
with additional action-oriented research.63 From this 
example, it is evident that multiple sustainability 
goals can be achieved in one initiative. To not only 
empower women but also make progress with 



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capacity-building, foundations and other donors 
can fund training for women so that they can 
become more well-respected advocates and advance 
important climate dialogue.
 Technology transfer & implementation. The 
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 
recognized in 2018 that limiting global warming 
to 1.5°C would require “rapid, far-reaching and 
unprecedented changes in all aspects of society,” 
and in 2019, the situation has continued to escalate. 
Therefore, fostering a culture of innovation is more 
essential than ever before. Technology is very 
much interconnected with capacity-building and 
financing, and a natural next step in the fight against 
climate change would be to employ the technology 
used in developed countries in areas that are less able 
to afford the kind of research required to implement 
transformative technology. Upon evaluating 
Indonesia’s current policy efforts, it appears that the 
most potential for revolutionary technology lies in 
tangibly supporting what its NDC calls for: energy 
reforms. 
 However, the plans should be more specific for 
items like phasing-out coal and delineate a specific 
course of action.64 The 2019 Emissions Gap Report 
recommends above all else the decarbonization of the 
energy sector through renewables and heightened 
energy efficiency, which by 2050, could help reduce 
emissions by the annual output of nearly 2.5 million 
coal power stations; the electrification of transport 
could then reduce the sector’s emissions by up to 
72% in the same time period.65 Given Indonesia’s 
high energy sector emissions, the transfer of this 
kind of technology would serve as a tremendous 
boon. Promoting renewable energy sources offers 
significant abatement potential, reducing carbon 
emissions from the BAU baseline by approximately 
266 million metric tons by 2030, and this number 
could increase to approximately 544 million metric 
tons if combined with an energy conservation 
policy.66 By taking these actions sooner rather than 
later, infrastructure can avoid being locked into 
“emissions-intensive pathways,” where it becomes too 
expensive or difficult to later change a dependence 
on fossil fuels.67 Finally, Indonesia can also learn 
from successful technologies in nearby countries. 
Palm oil waste lagoons have major potential as an 
alternative biofuel that could be used not only in 
existing palm oil biomass plants in Malaysia but also 

in Indonesia, as both countries’ economies heavily 
rely on the palm oil industry.68

 Unfortunately, sharing climate technologies is 
not as easy as it may initially seem because of the 
difficulties to distribute funding. In the case of 
Indonesia, the Green Climate Fund approved $200 
million in funding for their projects, yet they have 
only received around $281,000 and have thus not 
actually been able to make much headway with 
their projects.69 Until climate finance becomes more 
accessible, countries with many natural amenities 
like Indonesia should take advantage of cheap, 
natural-based solutions. Indonesia’s forests are 
capable of providing 23% of the cost-effective climate 
mitigation needed before 2030, yet forests accounted 
for less than 3% of climate mitigation funding in 
2018.70 It is evident that this natural-based solution 
could serve as a more than worthwhile substitute for 
complex, expensive technologies like carbon capture 
and storage.
 It is also worth noting that countries like Indonesia 
should assess non-financial barriers to climate 
technology. The aforementioned lack of diversity in 
policymaking may very well be an issue that aligns 
with global movements aiming, for example, to 
involve more women in science and engineering-
related disciplines such that new technologies are 
able to better serve all its unique users and meet their 
variety of needs. Ensuring a “just transition,” where 
new opportunities are created for those who may be 
phased out by climate technologies, is essential. 

Conclusion
 The bottom line is that Indonesia must work 
especially hard to cut its emissions. While it is a G20 
country, it is also a member of the Global South; 
the nation’s most vulnerable people face internal 
inequalities and need international assistance 
with capacity-building, financing, and technology 
transfer in order to have a chance at finding workable 
solutions for the climate crisis. 
 Out of the aforementioned recommendations, 
first raising ambition ultimately seems to be the 
most promising for Indonesia, as it serves as the 
foundation that will inspire stakeholders to invest 
in climate’s future. A sense of urgency needs to 
be instilled throughout the entire Indonesian 
population, and those expressing concern from 
particularly marginalized communities should be 



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given a platform to be listened to seriously. The 
responsibility for addressing climate change lies not 
only in the hands of powerful multilateral institutions, 
businesses, and governments but also in civil society. 
As we consider who is to pay for the harms of climate 
change, one must remember that this issue is not 
isolated from social justice and that the climate issue 
is very much an “imperative of human rights.”71 Each 
stakeholder must forge partnerships with others such 
that they are well-attuned to the capabilities of each 
sector and the ways they can support one another in 
the most effective manner possible. 
 Above all, there must be a collective focus to 
ensure that Indonesia as a whole receives the support 
that it deserves in order to shift its development to 
sustainable means. The challenge for Indonesia 
lies in generating the growth it needs to continue 
improving in terms of quality of life and, at the same 
time, protecting its natural resources and long-term 
development prospects. Effectively confronting 
climate change requires action now, and the onus of 
this responsibility has in part fallen upon developed 
countries because these countries’ past resource 
exploitation has ultimately led to the current climate 
crisis.
 As a nation of rising prominence in global 
society, Indonesia must not only overcome its climate 
challenges for its own benefit but also to ensure a 
sustainable future for everyone across the world. It 
is important that the nation receives more attention 
in major climate negotiations; the information 
that is not broadcasted about Indonesia’s current 
circumstances is just as important to note as what 
is public, and existing policy measures need to be 
strengthened and implemented on a greater, more 
transparent scale. However, we can have well-
measured optimism if we remember that our choices 
as consumers, voters, and everyday people can have 
an effect higher up the chain. Indonesia has the 
potential to meet its policy goals, and it will be more 
than feasible if society continues to raise ambition, 
push for immediate systemic change, and emphasize 
Indonesia’s critical, often forgotten role as we enter 
yet another decade of growing climate emergency.

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25



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23 Republic of Indonesia, 2016

24 Vun et al., 2018

25 Vun et al., 2018

26 Mohamad et al., 2019

27 United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP]. 
(2019, November 26). On the brink – Emissions gap 
report 2019 launch. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.
be/u0QRcFuT2Sg

28 UNEP, 2019

29 Wahlén, 2019

30 Republic of Indonesia, 2016

31 Center for Excellence in Disaster Management 
and Humanitarian Assistance. (2018, June 1). 
Indonesia: Disaster management reference handbook 
(June 2018). https://reliefweb.int/report/indonesia/
indonesia-disaster-management-reference-
handbook-june-2018

32 Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and 
Humanitarian Assistance, 2018

33 World Bank. (2019, September 25). The World Bank 
in Indonesia: Overview. https://www.worldbank.org/
en/country/indonesia/overview

34 UN-REDD Programme. (2019, September 23). 
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35 World Bank Data. (2018). Rural population (% 
of total population). https://data.worldbank.org/
indicator/SP.RUR.TOTL.ZS

36 Hurowitz, G. (2019). Here’s what deforestation looks 
like in 2019 – and what we can do about it. Mighty 
Earth. http://www.mightyearth.org/heres-what-
deforestation-looks-like-in-2019-and-what-we-can-
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37 Hurowitz, 2019

38 Bendix, 2019

39 Zoological Society of London Indonesia. (2019a). 
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Bogor, Jawa Barat, Indonesia.

40 Zoological Society of London Indonesia, 2019a

41 UNFCCC. (n.d.). Nationally determined 
contributions (NDCs). https://unfccc.int/nationally-
determined-contributions-ndcs#eq-2

42 Republic of Indonesia, 2016

43 Republic of Indonesia, 2016

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44 Climate Action Tracker. (2019). Indonesia. https://
climateactiontracker.org/countries/indonesia/

45 UNEP. (2019). Emissions gap report 2019 [PDF]. 
https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/
emissions-gap-report-2019

46 UN-REDD. (n.d.). About REDD+. https://www.
unredd.net/about/what-is-redd-plus.html

47 Republic of Indonesia, 2016

48 Atmadja, S. S., Arwida, S., Martius, C., & Pham, 
T. T. (2018). Financing REDD+. In Transforming 
REDD+: Lessons and new directions (pp. 29-39). 
Bogor, Indonesia: CIFOR.

49 Republic of Indonesia, 2016

50 Republic of Indonesia & Global Green Growth 
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51 TT:CLEAR. (n.d.). Technology needs assessment: 
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52 Climate Technology Centre & Network. (n.d.). 
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assistance/projects/hydrodynamic-modelling-
flood-reduction-and-climate-resilient

53 Climate Technology Centre & Network. (n.d.) 
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54 Lambertz, K. (2019, September 23). The world 
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the-world-has-a-moral-responsibility-to-combat-
climate-change/

55 Wijaya, A., Samadhi, T. N., & Juliane, R. (2019, July 
24). Indonesia is reducing deforestation, but problem 
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deforestation-problem-areas-remain

56 Food and Agrigulture Organization of the United 
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www.fao.org/3/x0262e/x0262e16.htm

57 Zoological Society of London Indonesia. (2019b). 
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security through organic vegetables cultivation. Bogor, 
Jawa Barat, Indonesia.

58 Dobson, C., & Lawrence, S. (2018). Our voices, 
our environment: The state of funding for women’s 
environmental action. Green Grants. https://www.
greengrants.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/
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HighRes-FINAL.pdf

59 Jamholt, A. (2019, November 26). 40 years of 
experience have proven their point: Sustainable 
financing actually works. IISD. http://sdg.iisd.org/
commentary/guest-articles/40-years-of-experience-
have-proven-their-point-sustainable-financing-
actually-works/

60 Jamholt, 2019

61 Jamholt, 2019

62 Jamholt, 2019

63 Munnion, O., Ernsting, A., & de la Plaza, C. (2019, 
November 27). Is climate finance for cookstove and 
charcoal projects helping communities, forests or the 
climate? German Climate Finance. https://www.
germanclimatefinance.de/2019/11/27/is-climate-
finance-for-cookstove-and-charcoal-projects-
helping-communities-forests-or-the-climate/

64 Wijaya, A., Chrysolite, H., Ge, M., Wibowo, C. 
K., Pradana, A., Utami, A. F., & Austin, K. (2017). 
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mitigation goal? An analysis of potential emissions 
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65 Mwangi, W. (2019, November 29). 1.5°C “almost 
impossible” without deeper and faster cuts, warns 
UNEP emissions gap report. IISD. http://sdg.iisd.org/
news/1-5c-almost-impossible-without-deeper-and-
faster-cuts-warns-unep-emissions-gap-report/ 

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66 Wijaya et al., 2017

67 Wijaya et al., 2017

68 Mahlia, T. M. I., Ismail, N., Hossain, N., Silitonga, 
A. S., & Shamsuddin, A. H. (2019). Palm oil and 
its wastes as bioenergy sources: A comprehensive 
review. Environmental Science and Pollution 
Research, 26(15). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
pubmed/30937750# 

69 Green Climate Fund. (n.d.). Indonesia. https://
www.greenclimate.fund/countries/indonesia

70 Gibbs, D., Harris, N., & Seymour, F. (2018, October 
4). By the numbers: The value of tropical forests in 
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org/blog/2018/10/numbers-value-tropical-forests-
climate-change-equation

71 Shue, H. (2018). Human rights in the Anthropocene. 
Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene, 4, p. 5. https://doi.
org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809665-9.10480-X

28



Figure 1. National GHG emissions by sector in 2014. This figure shows the Indonesian government’s most 
recently provided break-down of greenhouse gas emissions. Adapted from: Republic of Indonesia. (2017). 
Third National Communication: Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change [PDF 
file]. Retrieved from: https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/8360571_Indonesia-NC3-2-Third%20
National%20Communication%20-%20Indonesia%20-%20editorial%20refinement%2013022018.pdf

Figure 2. Palm oil facilities in Indonesia. Adapted from: Trase. (2018). Retrieved from: https://trase.earth/
logistics-map?commodity=palmOil&layers%5B%5D=mills

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Appendix A: Relevant Data and Figures

29



Figure 3. G20 climate policy performance ratings. This figure compares the success of 
different climate change policies in different G20 countries. Adapted from: Climate 
Transparency. (2018). Retrieved from: https://i2.wp.com/www.climate-transparency.org/
wp-content/uploads/2018/11/5_G20-climate-policy-performance-rating.jpg?ssl=1

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Figure 4. Comparison of projected mitigation options in Indonesia’s land-use 
and energy sectors (2030). This figure shows the mitigation potential for existing 
climate solutions if they were to be strengthened by 2030. Adapted from: World 
Resources Institute. (2017). Retrieved from: https://www.wri.org/blog/2017/10/
evaluating-indonesias-progress-its-climate-commitments

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