Coal phase-out plan at risk

Energy uprising: Greenpeace Indonesia activists taking action at sea in front of the Muara Karang gas-fired power plant, protesting against the inconsistency of national energy policies and calling for an end to dependence on fossil fuels, in Jakarta. — AFP

THE nation’s plan to retire 6.7 gigawatts of coal-fired power plant capacity by 2030 to fight climate change is at risk of failure due to stalled disbursal of funding from rich countries, Indonesia’s top official overseeing the programme said.

A coalition of 10 donor nations called the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) promised in 2022 to raise US$20bil within three to five years for Indonesia, once descri­bed as the ‘single-largest climate finance transaction’. Funds to retire plants representing 13.5% of the country’s coal-fired power capacity were to be included in the sum.

“We have not seen any commitment from anyone to finance the coal phase-out,” Paul Butarbutar, head of the JETP Indonesia Sec­re­tariat, said on the sidelines of the COP30 climate summit in Brazil.

“If there is no one really willing to jump in to finance the coal phase-out, then we will have to think about whether phase-out is actually the best option,” he said.

The problem in Indonesia, the world’s seventh-largest coal-fired power producer and South-East Asia’s largest economy, underscores broader concerns among developing nations about inter­national climate finance, which has been slow to materialise.

Indonesia’s JETP has approved US$2.85bil in loans and equity, and US$186.9mil in grants for grids, renewables, efficiency and electric-powered transport, but no coal power plant retirement funds have been approved, accor­ding to a draft progress report by the initiative published last month.

The 10 donor nations included the United States, the European Union and Japan. The United States has since withdrawn.

Japan, which is now coordina­ting the JETP programme for Indo­ne­sia with Germany, did not respond to requests seeking comment.

Germany’s press office said it is working with Indonesia to identify “the most effective and politically feasible ways of reaching the JETP goals”.

JETP Indonesia entered its imp­lementation phase in 2025 and over US$6bil in financing is in progress, Germany’s press office said in a statement, adding that donors have committed US$19.53bil out of the original pledge of US$20bil.

Commitments do not amount to disbursals. — Reuters