W

ith or without a gubernatorial race, Jakarta is heating up, literally. From year to year the city’s temperature has steadily increased. Geologists estimate that the city’s temperature is 1.4 degrees Celsius higher than it was a century ago, or double the world average, owing to a combination of global warming and proliferation of structures at the expense of green spaces.

With more construction under way — and more in the pipeline, the city is certainly bracing for an environmental disaster unless it shifts to green governance.

Jakarta’s commitment to environmental protection was put to test as soon as the House of Representatives ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change on Wednesday. The ratification requires the country, Jakarta included, to lower carbon emissions by 29 percent, from the business-as-usual level in 2030.

Of course Jakarta cannot be held responsible for forest fires, which contributed the most to Indonesia’s carbon emissions, but gas emissions from over 16 million motorized vehicles traveling across the capital on a daily basis (Central Statistics Agency data as of 2015) are no less dangerous than smoldering haze that used to follow forest fires.

Vehicles running on fuel, which in Indonesia is mostly far below the European standard, emit high concentrations of carbon monoxide, which can cause lung, heart and other health problems, while harming the ozone layer. The impact will worsen in traffic congestion.

There have been no studies conducted to prove the lethal impacts of carbon monoxide poisoning in Jakarta, but in the US it kills hundreds of people each year.

Carbon monoxide is for sure among the most important pollutants in cities with significant automotive pollution like Jakarta. Therefore traffic restrictions will help spare Jakarta and its future generations from both environmental degradation and health disasters.

Coupled with the option for a mass, rather than private, transportation system, Jakarta will help save energy, hence the fuel subsidy. Sowing one good transportation policy will allow Jakarta to harvest many.

Jakarta’s poise to become the center of civilization, rivaling prominent European cities, gives the provincial government no other choice but to expand green public spaces. The city’s green public spaces have never reached 10 percent of its territory, while the law requires regional governments to allocate 30 percent of land for green spaces.

To enlarge Jakarta’s green area, Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama will need to work with, for example, state railway company KAI, state power producer PLN and toll operator Jasa Marga to clear railroad sides, extra high voltage power lines and underpasses, respectively, while enforcing the bylaw that requires developers to allocate 30 percent of their property for green spaces.

Jakarta can claim to be a smart city, given the deep penetration of the internet, ratio of cell phone possession per person and burgeoning online transactions. But those will prove worthless without a pro-environment culture, which Jakarta is still lacking.