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Jokowi to attend COP26 in show of commitment
Summit president calls for more ambitious climate action
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is set to attend in person the 26th United Nations climate change conference (COP26) in Scotland next month, officials confirmed on Tuesday, as the leader looks to bolster Indonesia’s global credentials as it takes on a defining G20 presidency.
Jokowi will head to Glasgow for the crucial summit after visiting Rome, Italy to attend the G20 Summit and take over the reins of the club of the world’s largest economies.
The trip will be Jokowi’s first abroad since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. He is scheduled to attend COP26 on Nov. 1-2, which follows the G20 Summit hosted by Italy on Oct. 30-31, Foreign Ministry officials said in a briefing.
The President previously skipped the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York last month, choosing to air a prerecorded speech instead. Conversely, Jokowi had gone to great lengths to ensure the country is prepared to host a flurry of G20 meetings, having visited the future site of the global event in Bali over the weekend.
Indonesia’s G20 presidency, which officially begins on Dec. 1 and runs until Nov. 31, 2022, will be the nation’s most strategic international role yet, as the world sets its sights on inclusive recovery from the pandemic and a drastic turnaround of the ongoing climate crisis.
The ministry's director general for multilateral affairs, Febrian Ruddyard, said Jokowi’s decision to attend the Glasgow meeting aimed to demonstrate Indonesia's “strong commitment” to advancing climate action.
“COP26 is very important because the climate conditions are increasingly urgent and it is hoped that this meeting will produce concrete steps, for example, the development of a global carbon trading mechanism,” he told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Read also: Diplomats push to finalize carbon trading rules in public discussion
Crucial moment
Just a few weeks before climate crunch talks begin, the pressure is piling on countries that have yet to improve on their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to slash greenhouse gas emissions, which are central to the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.
Negotiations on unresolved provisions in the 2018 Paris accord rulebook, including Article 6 on market and non-market cooperation, are also likely to cast a shadow over the summit, after years of unsuccessful lobbying and an apparent lack of political will among nations.
During the pre-COP26 event Youth4Climate in Italy earlier this month, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg repeated her criticism of world leaders who she said were all talk and no action, AFP reported.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mahendra Siregar has said that without clarity and progress on the mechanisms for implementing the Paris Agreement, the world runs the risk of losing trust in the multilateral process.
Britain's Alok Sharma, president of the upcoming United Nations climate summit, called on G20 countries to come forward with more ambitious 2030 climate action plans.
"The responsibility rests with each and every country. And we must all play our part. Because on climate, the world will succeed, or fail as one," he said in a press statement reporting his speech in Paris, France on Tuesday.
Read also: Inclusion to be key tenet of Indonesia’s G20 presidency: Retno
National achievements
Home to one of the world’s three largest tropical rainforests, the Indonesian government is preparing a substantial announcement for COP26, as it looks to subvert the mixed signals it had been sending since a deforestation deal with Norway recently broke down and amid conflicting climate targets in the energy sector.
Jokowi’s close aide Luhut Pandjaitan, has said that the President wishes to fast-track Indonesia’s original target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2060. The government has also submitted updated NDCs and issued a long-term strategy for low carbon and climate resilience (LTS-LCCR) for 2050, although some uncertainties still remain.
Under its NDCs, Indonesia is committed to slashing emissions by 29 percent relative to a business-as-usual (BAU) baseline of 2.87 gigatons of carbon emission equivalent (CO2e) by 2030. But with sufficient international support, it plans to reduce emissions by 41 percent over the same period. The government said the BAU scenario would require around US$365 billion in investment and the second will cost rich countries around $479 billion.
Forestry, land use and the energy sectors contribute the most to the national emissions reduction target, with the deforestation rate reaching its lowest point in 20 years.
Additionally, the country will seek to highlight its other achievements in reducing carbon emissions, said the ministry’s director for development, economic and environmental affairs, Hari Prabowo.
“The message that Indonesia is eager to bring to COP26 is [how it managed] various achievements and concrete measures in a real and accountable manner, so we can say [we] are confident of leading by example,” he said.
Hari also said Indonesia would seek to represent the interests of archipelagic and small island countries in the developing world, all of which face imminent disaster and rising sea levels brought about by climate change.
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