Indonesia's President urges developed countries to invest in green economies

Joko Widodo, the Indonesian President on Thursday, urged developed countries to invest in energy solutions and climate change in Indonesia. He highlighted its enormous potential for renewable energy projects and carbon reduction.

Jokowi (as the incoming president is known) said that the Southeast Asian country has over 3,600 Gigawatts of renewable power potential. He also stated that the nation's 3.3 million hectares (8.2 millions acres) of mangroves could absorb 12 times as much carbon dioxide as tropical rain forests.

He told the Indonesia International Sustainability Forum participants in Jakarta that "all these won't have a significant impact as long developed nations don't dare invest, research and development is not shared widely, and affordable funding schemes aren't given to emerging countries."

He said that climate change issues can't be resolved while investors focus on economic calculations.

Indonesia secured a funding pledge of $20 billion under the Just Energy Transformation Partnership scheme, led by the Group of Seven nations. However, actualisation of this financing has been minimal to date.

Jokowi stated that Indonesia, a resource-rich country, was open to partnering with anyone in order to develop green projects. This includes investments into "green industrial estates".

Luhut Pandjaitan, senior cabinet minister at the event, said that Indonesia had identified 400 projects in need of financing to achieve its climate goals. (Reporting and editing by Christian Schmollinger; Bernadette Christina Munthe, Fransiska Pandjaitan)

(source: Reuters)