Indonesia will be affected more than most. A recent McKinsey study highlighted that the chances of extreme precipitation in Indonesia could increase three- or four-fold by 2050. A report by the United States-based nonprofit research group Climate Central estimated that Indonesia will be heavily impacted by sea level rise, with an estimated 23 million Indonesians living in coastal cities at risk of losing their homes due to coastal flooding by 2050 from higher sea levels.

Tackling this challenge requires a global effort. Countries, including Indonesia, are making commitments through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The coronavirus, while exacting a devastating toll on human lives and welfare, has shed new light on opportunities to reduce carbon emissions.

Governments and companies have embraced videoconferencing that could reduce future carbon-intensive air travel. And just as Indonesia has vowed to build a green new capital city in Kalimantan, governments in many parts of the world have pledged to leverage COVID-19 recovery plans to build back greener.

But countries cannot do this alone. One of the most encouraging trends of recent years has been the groundswell of private companies from all sectors of the global economy who are taking action to reduce their carbon footprint and do their part on climate change. 

Tech companies are huge users of electricity. So, when they announce new climate and renewable energy targets, we should pay attention. Sundar Pichai, the chief executive officer of Alphabet and its subsidiary Google, made just such an announcement on Sept. 14.

Google has now doubled down on those commitments to target what it calls a new level of ambition.  Specifically, Google aims to become the first multinational company to operate on clean energy, “every hour and everywhere” by 2030. In 2019, Google reported that it consumed 10.5 terawatt hours of electricity, more than all the homes in Singapore.

But Google is not stopping there. As part of the company’s mission to leverage its considerable expertise in artificial intelligence to provide new ways of looking at existing problems, from rethinking healthcare to advancing scientific discovery, Pichai pledged to deploy Google’s artificial intelligence to support other industries in reducing their carbon emissions.

Lastly, Pichai announced that Google will support 500+ cities to reduce 1 billion tons of CO2 by 2030.  Cities now account for more than 70 percent of global emissions. Google is partnering with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, whose members include Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, and has shared its online tool, the Environmental Insights Explorer to enable cities to measure greenhouse gas emissions and take informed action to reduce CO2 emissions. 

Through the power of its technology, ideas and example, Google is not only setting high standards for scaling back its own carbon emissions, but embracing the challenge to help governments, cities, and other companies to do the same. This marks an important opportunity for the Indonesian government and private companies to partner with Google to tackle climate change together.

 ***

The writer is US ambassador to Indonesia from 2013-2016 and is now senior director at McLarty Associates (www.MAGlobal.com) helping US and other businesses in Southeast Asia.

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