JAKARTA, Nov 12 (Reuters): The United States, Japan and other countries are finalising a climate finance deal of at least $15 billion to help Indonesia retire coal power plants early, Bloomberg News reported on Friday (Nov 11), citing people familiar with the matter.
Indonesian officials confirmed that a funding commitment under the "just energy transition partnerships", or JETP, could be announced next week, on the sidelines of a leaders' summit of the Group of 20 major economies, which Indonesia will host in Bali. But they declined to provide details.
Indonesia's Coordinating Minister of Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan said while negotiations over the terms of the JETP have been tough, he hoped an announcement could be made by Wednesday.
Luhut told a conference he had recently confirmed the deal's progress in a call with U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry.
"Indonesia has made it very clear our stance on this. We don't want any policy about climate change (that) disturbs our economic growth," Luhut said, adding that Jakarta also requested favourable terms for any loans under the JETP.
In a separate seminar, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati also confirmed an announcement is due next week, adding: "I do hope the size is going to be big enough to create confidence in terms of delivering the transition of energy."
The Group of 7 countries has proposed establishing a JETP deal for Indonesia by the end of 2022.
Last month, state power firm Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) said it was in negotiations with U.S. and European investors to help finance early shut down of 6.7 gigawatt of coal power capacity.
Indonesia has also been working with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to speed up the closure of coal-fired power plants.
PLN has pledged to retire all coal power plants by 2056, while the government has promised to double the share of renewables in its energy mix to 23% by 2025. - Reuters
