Electric vehicle push needs greener power to help climate

Clear sky: A car driving past a graffitied wall in Jakarta. If the power for EVs come from renewable sources, Indonesia can also help meet its emissions reduction targets. — AFP

THE nation’s electric vehicle drive is likely to overtake its ambitious biodiesel programme within a decade, but will only achieve its aim of helping curb climate change if the country ramps up clean energy investment, environmental researchers say.

The South-East Asian nation – home to the world’s third-largest tropical forests – has steadily increased the share of its biodiesel mandate derived from palm oil since 2018, despite the risk that could fuel deforestation.