Jakarta—Civil society organisations (CSOs) strongly criticised the Draft Law on New and Renewable Energy (EBET) Bill and the Draft Government Regulation on National Energy Policy (KEN) Bill as not being in line with the principle of just energy transition and potentially hindering the achievement of the renewable energy mix target.
One crucial point highlighted is reducing the renewable energy mix target in the KEN Bill from 23 per cent in 2025 to 19-22 per cent in 2030. This figure is far below global recommendations and Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) studies, which state that Indonesia must reach an 80 per cent renewable energy mix by 2040 to achieve decarbonisation.
“This target reduction shows the government’s lack of commitment and urgency in the energy transition from fossil to renewable,” said Verena Puspawardani from Koaksi Indonesia in a press release on Tuesday, July 2.
She pointed out that the two energy bills still accommodate the interests of carbon-intensive energy such as gas, nuclear and coal. “The EBET Bill is full of interests that encourage fossil energy and is high risk,” said Verena.
Meanwhile, Greenpeace Indonesia’s Renewable Energy Campaigner, Hadi Priyanto, added that the EBET and KEN Bills also allow for the large-scale utilisation of land-based energy, especially biomass, which is feared to trigger land grabbing.
“These two regulations do not consider the social impacts of energy management, including renewable energy, and provide facilities for land provision that have the potential to trigger dispossession,” he said.
CSOs urge the government to be more ambitious in the energy transition by focusing on renewable energy and prioritising the principle of justice. They also requested that the EBET and KEN Bills be revised to align with Indonesia’s commitment to the Paris Agreement to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C. (Hartatik)