JAKARTA: A landmark US$20bil deal to help fund Indonesia’s transition away from coal isn’t enough to put the country on track to meet global climate goals, according to energy think tank Ember.

The Just Energy Transition Partnership brokered last year between Indonesia, the United States and Japan caps the archipelago’s power sector emissions at 290 million tonnes by 2030 and sets a target to reach net zero two decades later.

Indonesia will need to do more than that to help keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius from the pre-industrial average, Ember said in a report.

That’s the level climate scientists say is key to avoiding the worst impacts of planetary warming.

The analysis underscored the challenges facing less-developed economies, as they seek to reap the rewards of industrial development that richer nations experienced decades ago without generating massive amounts of planet-heating emissions.

Indonesia needs to retire more coal power plants earlier and reduce the operational levels of the remaining ones, while also accelerating the adoption of renewable energy, Ember analysts including Achmed Shahram Edianto said in the report.

 - Bloomberg