UN issues first green certificate for RI

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 03/25/2008 11:20 AM 

After two years, the United Nations has issued the first saleable "certificates of emissions reduction" (CERs) to Indonesia's publicly listed cement maker, PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa Tbk. 

The UN executive board on climate change issued a total of 17,635 CERs to Indocement's alternative fuel projects on March 14. 

"It is good news for Indonesia. Hopefully, more companies will be encouraged to switch to greener projects to tap into cash from the carbon trade scheme," Prasetyadi Utomo, secretary of Indonesia's designated national authority (DNA) on Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) told The Jakarta Post on Monday. 

Under the CDM, projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to sustainable development can earn saleable CERs. 

Countries with an emissions reduction or limitation commitment under the Kyoto Protocol can use the CERs to meet part of their obligations under the protocol. 

The certificates can be traded to 36 highly industrialized nations which have legally binding emissions limitation and reduction commitments. A CER currently sells for between 13 and 15 euros. 

The UN will also issue 23,474 CERs to PT Indotirta Suaka Bulan Farm on Tuesday. The company's project, located on Bulan Island near Batam, involves methane capture and combustion from swine manure and is expected to cut 166,000 tons of emissions per year. 

Prasetyahadi said the UN had informed Indonesian environmental officials of a plan to issue another 63,332 CERs to Indocement on Wednesday. 

DNA data shows PT Indocement registered two projects that reduce emissions through the use of alternative fuels such as biomass, rice husks, sawdust and used tires. 

The projects were developed in cooperation with the World Bank. 

The issued CERs are transferred electronically from the CDM Registry through an international transaction log, administered by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Secretariat, to national emissions registries. 

As of March 1, the UN had issued CERs to 306 projects, mostly in China and India, totaling 126.6 million CERs. 

The CDM is expected to generate more than 2.6 billion CERs by the time the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012. 

The UN has said there are currently more than 948 registered CDM projects in 50 developing countries, and another 2,000 projects in the registration pipeline. 

The government has so far approved 47 CDM projects, of which half were registered this year following the UN climate change conference in Bali. 

Among the approved projects are a fuel switching project conducted by PT Asahimas Flat Glass Tbk at its flat glass manufacturing facility in Sidoarjo, PT Gikoko Kogyo Indonesia's gas flaring project in Palembang and a waste recovery project in Ubud, Bali.

Time to get serious in the global fight against climate change

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Global attention to climate change issues, including in Indonesia, hit a new high in 2007 after leading climate scientists bombarded the public with a string of reports describing the evidence for human-induced climate change as "unequivocal".

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) -- the United Nation's global body for assessing scientific knowledge of climate change -- issued four reports regarding the issue and its impacts during 2007.

The first report, in February, covered the climate trend; the second, in April, reported on the world's ability to adapt to warmer planet and the third, in June, revealed strategies for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

The fourth report, officially launched at the climate change conference in Bali in December, asserted that human activities had accelerated global warming over the past 50 years.

It predicted that by 2100, the global temperature could rise by between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees Celsius, compared to the 1990 level, saying such an impact could be "abrupt or irreversible" and no country would be spared.

It said the sea level will rise by at least 18 centimeters, triggering more frequent heatwaves, rainstorms and tropical cyclones.

Small island states and developing economies, where hundreds of millions of people live in low-lying areas, will first experience the devastating effects of rising sea levels.

In addition to the IPCC's report, London-based economist Nicholas Stern published a review of climate change's impacts on the world's economic situation this year.

The Stern review warned that if no action were taken, the overall cost and risks of climate change would be equivalent to losing at least 5 percent of GDP each year.

The final comments came from documentary An Inconvenient Truth by former U.S. vice president Al Gore, for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Since then, thousands of seminars have been held worldwide to discuss the scientific reports and seek ways to combat the severe impacts of climate change and how to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.

Climate issues have been topping the political agenda in developed countries, including the U.S. and Australia.

Kevin Rudd's recent success in the Australian federal election has been put down by many to his promise to take action on climate change. Australia ratified the Kyoto Protocol a few days after Rudd took office as prime minister.

The latest conference on climate change was held in December in Nusa Dua, Bali, where over 10,000 participants from 189 countries gathered for a two-week meeting to invent a formula to cut emissions after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol ends.

The Bali conference, the world's biggest ever conference on the climate change, decided that rich nations should take the lead in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The Bali road map, designed to succeed the first commitment of the Kyoto Protocol, requires rich nations to make deeper cuts to their emissions.

The conference concluded that developing nations experienced the most adverse effects of climate change due to poor and often insufficient infrastructure and a lack of capacity to cope with the consequences.

It said that as the frequency and intensity of drastic weather events were expected to rise, developing nations were expected to suffer the most.

Oxfam International in its Climate Alarm report issued in November said that natural disasters, the vast majority of which are climate-related, have increased more than four-fold in recent decades.

It said flood and windstorm disasters alone have risen six-fold, from about 60 in 1980 to about 240 in 2006.

It also said that Asian floods alone affected about 250 million people in 2007.

The Bali meeting then agreed on several crucial issues mostly benefiting developing countries such as the adaptation fund, technology transfer and reducing emissions from deforestation, known as the REDD program.

The adaptation fund makes small states island and developing nations, including Indonesia, eligible for money to help them adapt to climate change.

The funding, taken from a 2-percent of share of clean development mechanism (CDM) projects, will be managed by the newly set up adaptation fund board, with Mahendra Siregar representing Indonesia.

The board will assess adaptation projects from developing countries before awarding the money.

The CDM is the only mechanism allowing developing countries to host green projects to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The amount of carbon cut can be traded to developed nations who have obligations to slash their emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.

A ton of carbon is currently sold at between $5 and $10.

The Kyoto Protocol now binds 36 developed nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent below their 1990 levels.

Indonesia itself will prioritize projects such as building sea walls and training local farmers on new agricultural techniques to enable to adapt to extreme weather changes.

"We will put priority on areas vulnerable to rising sea levels and educate local farmers on new planting methods," head of the adaptation unit at the environment ministry, Haneda Sri Mulyanto, said.

Extreme weather has caused serious floods, drought and wild fires in Indonesia.

Indonesia is the world's third largest archipelagic country, with 17,500 small islands and a coastline of 81,000 kilometers.

Reports have said that in the last decade, drought has dried over 220,380 hectares of paddy land across the country, causing production losses of 190,000 tons of unhusked rice.

It is also reported that during the same period, floods had also inundated over 158.787 hectares of land with production losses at 174.000 tons of unhusked rice.

A report from the ministry of maritime affairs and fisheries said Indonesia had lost 24 small islands in the last two years due in part to sea level rises aggravated by maritime erosion from illegal mining activities. The lost islands were in Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau and Papua.

A report from the German-based environment research group Germanwatch and insurance firm Munich Reinsurance lists Indonesia as the world's third most effected nation by extreme weather events due to climate change after the Philippines and North Korea, last year. It said there were 21 extreme weather events in Indonesia last year, leaving 1,297 people dead.

Meanwhile, the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) recorded that in the period of 2003 to 2005, there were more than 1,429 disasters related to weather events across the country.

It said the early February floods in Jakarta, which lasted for 22 days, affected thousands of people and destroyed about 1,500 houses.

In terms of REDD, parties to the Bali climate change conference also asserted the urgent need to take meaningful action to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

Countries were asked to support capacity building and to undertake efforts to address the drivers of deforestation, which is regarded as an important component of the future climate change regime beyond 2012.

Environmentalist Fitrian Ardiansyah of the WWF Indonesia praised the REDD scheme as it will significantly reduce emissions from forests, which so far contribute 20 percent of global emissions.

Indonesia has been named as the world's third largest emitter due to its fast deforestation rate and forest fires.

State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said the world should provide financial incentives for Indonesia to protect its forests so as to trap more carbon emissions.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick has promised to raise as much as US$300 million to help developing countries reduce emissions from deforestation.

The Center for International Forestry Research has predicted that developing nations could reap between $2.3 billion and $23 billion per year from avoiding deforestation under the REDD scheme.

The Bali conference also made important progress on the issue of greener technology as part of efforts to mitigate climate change.

Fitrian of the WWF said it was high time for Indonesia to take action to combat and mitigate climate change.

"The Bali climate conference is over, but much still needed to be done both by the government and the community to mitigate climate change."

Transforming waste into energy at Suwung Garbage dump

Prodita Sabarini, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

The foul smell of piling garbage at the largest landfill in Bali, the Suwung landfill, has been a source of disgust for the Balinese.

Thanks to technology, however, people on the island-province can now look forward to making use of their waste.

Home to household waste from four areas of Bali - Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan - the landfill receives as much as 800 tons of waste per day.

As two third of the waste is organic, it releases methane gas -- the source of the "foul smell" and is one of the greenhouse gasses that contributes to global warming - to the atmosphere.

The Bali administration, working with PT Navigat Organic Energy Indonesia (NOEI), set up an integrated waste management system at Suwung by building its first biogas plant.

The plant would capture methane gasses and turn it into energy in the form of electricity. The plant will also help rehabilitate the landfill site.

"By August 2008 the facility would be able to produce two megawatts for public use," PT NOEI spokesperson Bernt Bakken said Sunday.

The facility was launched by the Bali Governor Made Dewa Beratha on Dec. 13, sporting the momentum of the United Nations Climate Change Conference that ended on Dec. 15.

It is the first project in Bali carried out under the United Nation's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) -- a carbon trade scheme that enables a group of developed countries and countries in transition, which are binding for emission cuts to earn emission reduction credits by promoting sustainable development in developing countries.

Indonesia has 11 projects under the carbon trade scheme registered at the CDM executive board so far, with only two of them approved by the board.

The biogas plant project would reduce around 123,423 tons per year of the amount of methane gasses released to the atmosphere, cutting the greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming.

Bakken said from 2010, the facility would produce 10 Megawatts of electricity.

State Electricity Company (PLN) has signed an agreement to buy power from the biogas plant.

PT NOEI uses a Jenbacher machine, distributed by GE Energy. GE Energy country executive Gatot Prawiro said waste-to-energy conversion was a good solution to provide energy in areas that has no access to the national power grid.

Bali is still dependent on Java for power supply, with 130 Megawatts of the 439 Megawatts needed to power Bali comes from the Paiton Power Plant in East Java.

Increased employment could be climate change's silver lining – UN

UN News Centre

6 December 2007 – Despite the detrimental effects brought on by climate change, new industries to combat global warming could spur employment, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today.

“Millions of new jobs are among the many silver, if not indeed gold-plated linings on the cloud of climate change,” said Achim Steiner, UNEP’s Executive Director.

He pointed out that research shows that these are not just ‘green collar’ jobs targeted at the middle classes, but that opportunities abound for workers in areas ranging from construction, sustainable forestry and agriculture, engineering and transportation.

“Talk of environmental sustainability and climate change often emphasizes the costs, but downplays the significant employment opportunities from the transition to a global economy that is not only resource efficient and without the huge emissions of greenhouse gases, but one that also restores environmental and social values,” Mr. Steiner said.

The research is part of a draft report entitled “Green Jobs: Can the Transition to Environmental Sustainability Spur New Kinds and Higher Levels of Employment?” that was commissioned by UNEP.

It found that the United States environmental industry in 2005 generated over 5.3 million jobs, ten times the number in the country’s pharmaceutical industry.

Delhi, it noted, is introducing new eco-friendly compressed natural gas buses that will create 18,000 new jobs, while Brazil’s ethanol programme has lead to half a million new jobs.

Meanwhile, the top UN climate change official today said that greater efforts are necessary to extend the benefits of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) – which allows projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries and contribute to sustainable development to earn certified emission reduction credits (CERs) – to Africa.

“There are 850 clean development mechanism projects in 49 developing countries, but only 23 of those projects are in Africa,” said Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). “It’s time that the benefits of this important Kyoto Protocol mechanism were expanded in Africa.”

Last November, former Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched the Nairobi Framework aimed at spreading the spreading the benefits of the CDM.

Since then, several projects have been launched in Africa, but the total number of CDM initiatives on the continent comprise only 2.6 per cent of the some 800 registered projects.

G-77 agrees on funding plan

Abdul Khalik and Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

Senior officials from the developing countries grouped under the G-77 have agreed to propose the establishment of an adaptation fund mechanism that is transparent, accountable and easy to access, officials said Friday.

The agreement was reached during a meeting of senior officials ahead of the opening of the UN Bali climate conference here Friday.

The officials also agreed on the principles of the fund mechanism and the formation of a two-layer management system, which comprises a governing body and a day-to-day management body.

Both proposals will be submitted to the 13th UN Conference of Parties (COP) to the Kyoto Protocol, which will be opened by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday. At least five heads of state and governments, plus Australian prime minister-elect Kevin Rudd, have confirmed their presence at the meeting, which will last until Dec. 14.

Adaptation is one of the core issues to be discussed at the conference, besides mitigation, transfer of technology from developed to developing countries, and a financing scheme to curb the impacts of climate change.

The conference, which will be attended by more than 10,000 officials, representatives of non-government organizations and the media, is also expected to create a roadmap to establish a new commitment to the Kyoto agreement, the first phase of which will expire in 2012.

"Indonesia insists that whoever governs and manages the adaptation fund, we and other developing countries must have easy access to it, and the management of fund must be transparent," Sulistyowati, an Indonesian delegate at the meeting, told The Jakarta Post.

Aree Wattana Tummakiri of Thailand said the flexibility and accountability of the institution as well access to the fund for developing countries were all that the G-77 members are demanding in the fund's management.

"We will establish a governing body, which consist of parties to the protocol, because we want to have a pro-developing countries institution to manage the fund. Currently, we have difficulties accessing the money and an explanation on how the fund is managed," she told the Post.

The Kyoto Protocol has ruled that the adaptation fund will be raised from a 2 percent levy deducted from carbon credits given to the private sector both in developing and developed countries through clean development mechanism (CDM) projects. The current size of the fund is estimated at US$100 million per year, but is expected to reach billions as the value of CDM projects increases.

According to the Climate Action Network, a group of international NGOs, developing countries need at least $50 billion per year to adapt to the impact of climate change.

Currently, the fund is managed by GEF, a multilateral environmental financing mechanism set up under a 1994 international agreement, which is currently the only institution handling financial matters for the UNFCCC and other environmental agreements.

The organization is handling around $1 billion for climate change projects during the 2007 to 2010 period.

GEF projects are implemented by the World Bank, UN agencies, regional development banks, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Food and Agriculture Organization.

Most developed countries, including members of the European Union, have expressed support for the GEF to handle the adaptation funds, saying the organization already has the experience, infrastructure and expertise.

But most developing and least-developed countries have rejected the GEF, saying in the past it has been difficult for these countries to get money under GEF management. They also accuse the GEF of not being transparent in its operations.

Apart from discussing the adaptation fund, the officials also talked about the choice of technology developed countries can transfer to the developing countries to help the latter cope with climate change. They also discussed a fairer mechanism of carbon trading.

"We want a more transparent executive board for the carbon trading regime so that we know why our projects don't qualify for carbon credits and how to select consultants who will verify certain carbon projects," Upik Sitti Aslia Kamil, an Indonesian delegate at the talks, told the Post.

Support grows for RI to take lead in Bali

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Developing and least-developed countries are expecting more money to be raised for climate adaptation programs and that contributions be made mandatory for developed countries during the UN climate conference in Bali in December.

With the negative impacts of climate change being felt most directly by poorer countries, adaptation, which refers to policies and activities to cope with the changing environment, becomes critical for the survival of developing countries, participants of a workshop on adaptation strategies for Asia and Africa agreed here Wednesday.

"Predominantly, the poor of the world depend directly on natural resources through cultivation, herding, collecting or hunting for their livelihoods. Thus, climate change impacts on the natural resource base will have a direct affect on the livelihoods of the poor," Kai Kim Chiang of the Stockholm Environment Institute told participants.

Ainun Nishat, Bangladesh country representative for the World Conservation Union, said the Kyoto Protocol recognized that developed countries had the obligation to support developing countries under the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

"One of the key issues to be debated in Bali is how can we have more funding for adaptation, and whether we should have separate conventions like the Kyoto Protocol for adaptation. In Bali, we probably can't develop the legal framework or draft it, but it can be the starting point where countries agree to push for it," he said.

Mozaharul Alam of the Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies said that under Kyoto, developed countries supported adaptation funds through a voluntary mechanism.

"Through that voluntary mechanism it is very difficult to predict the adaptation fund and its size. So, most developing nations, including Indonesia, are arguing for mandatory contributions for adaptation programs rather than a voluntary mechanism," he said.

Both hoped that Indonesia could take the lead for developing nations by forming a friends of chair group, including the prominent members of the G-77 and Asian and African countries, in focusing the agenda in Bali on getting adaptation funds agreed to by putting pressure on developed nations.

Indonesia and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) will hold a climate conference in Bali from Dec. 3 to 14.

One of the main tasks for the conference is to begin to formulate a new multilateral agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, the current global agreement that formalizes efforts to curb pollution which expires in 2012.

Festus Luboyera of South Africa said many countries hoped the new adaptation mechanism could be included in the new protocol.

"Lack of funds continues to be a problem for the implementation of adaptation programs," Luboyera, who works for UNFCCC secretariat, said.

While other participants agreed there was a problem of funding for developing countries, they also pointed out several other problems such as low level of awareness both among the political elite and the grass roots, and difficulties in translating global data and information about climate change to people at the regional and village level.

Yolando Velasco of the UNFCCC secretariat and Annie Roncerel of the UN Institute for Training and Research agreed that climate change must be included in the development strategies of each developing country.

"If you don't include climate change risks into development calculations then development results will be at risk of being destroyed or ruined by negative climate change impacts, and it will cost a lot more than the initial calculation," Roncerel said.

REDD, not green, scheme for reducing emissions

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Bogor

In front of 40 international parties in Bogor on Thursday, Indonesia tabled a new pilot project that would see developing countries adopt REDD - an incentivized program to better manage forest emissions.

REDD (Reducing emissions from deforestation in developing nations) is an alternative to Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM) and would see forested countries reap more financial benefits by remanaging their forestry sector.

Many forested countries have not been able to adopt Kyoto's CDM into their forestry sector, which was one the main incentives behind the development of REDD.

The government said it would select four forests from across the country to pilot the project, which involves financial incentives for better managing forestry activities.

Senior advisor on partnership affairs at the forestry ministry Sunaryo said, "We will select (the) forests for the project and hopefully we can show them to the world in Bali," Sunaryo said.

"We hope the Bali meeting can adopt the concept," he said.

The four forest projects would be located in South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, North Sumatra and Southeast Sulawesi.

Included in the proposal is the Heart of Borneo, a total of 220,000 square kilometers of equatorial rainforest encompassing Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia on Kalimantan island.

Bali is set to host the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference from Dec. 3 to 14.

The REDD mechanism has been proposed by Indonesia for the world's rainforest countries and should see some financial benefits arise for efforts made to better manage deforestation.

The government said it was hopeful other developed countries would accept the concept.

It said REDD would help significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and would help address climate change.

The Kyoto Protocol on CDM only acknowledges aforestation and reforestation projects.

The protocol defines aforestation as converting land unforested for a period of at least 50 years to forested land via proactive seeding and planting management.

Reforestation is defined as the conversion of land area to a forested area after December 1989.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Wednesday countries that adopted the REDD program would be eligible for financial incentives from developed countries to help cope with any economic losses.

"The carbon market for REDD should provide a better price for each ton of carbon saved, and that price should be determined by the market so that the tropical rain forest countries do not have to shoulder the burden of opportunity costs," he said.

A ton of carbon dioxide stored by a forest is priced at US$3 to $5 and CDM from the energy saving sector is currently worth between $5 and $10.

Yudhoyono also said multinational companies in developed countries should play a crucial role in efforts to forest and prevent deforestation.

Forestry has long been a primary source of income for Indonesia. Data from the forestry ministry said the deforestation rate in Indonesia was 1.8 million hectares between 1987 and 1997.

The rate rose to 2.8 million hectares per year until 2000. Between 2000 to 2006 deforestation fell to 1.08 million hectares per year.

Emissions caused by changes in forests represent about one-fifth of the world's total emissions.

Indonesia currently has 120 million hectares of forest -- the world's third largest after Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Some 24 CDM projects have been developed across the archipelago, most of which have focused on alternative energy sources but none of which have been UN-approved for carbon trade to-date.

Netherlands to buy carbon credits from Pontianak landfill gas flaring

On 14 June Ambassador Dr N. van Dam, together with the mayor of Pontianak, Dr H. Buchary Abdurrachman, witnessed the signing of the Emission Reduction Purchase Agreement for the Pontianak Landfill Gas Flaring Project, executed by project developer PT Gikoko Kogyo and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, in its capacity as a trustee of the Netherlands CDM Facility.

The Netherlands are buying an amount of 350.000 Certified Emissions Reductions from the Pontianak Landfill Gas Flaring Project. These reductions will help the Netherlands to meet part of its ambitious greenhouse gas reduction obligation under the Kyoto Protocol and reduce the global emissions of greenhouse gases.

The Pontianak Landfill Gas Flaring Project is the first project under the bilateral Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) cooperation between the Netherlands and Indonesia. The Netherlands and Indonesia entered into a bilateral CDM cooperation 2 years ago, with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation under the CDM between the Ministry of the Environment of Indonesia Kementerian Lingkunan Hidup and the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) on 22 February 2005.

The implementation of this project for Landfill Gas Flaring on the landfill of the Municipality of Pontianak, TPA Batu Layang, will abate approximately 1.5 mln tonnes of CO2 equivalent during the proposed project life. This contributes to the greenhouse gas abatement goal of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change.

In addition to this global benefit, the project will contribute locally to sustainable landfilling and municipal solid waste management. Furthermore, this private sector investment in solid waste management demonstrates the commercial opportunities for sustainable municipal solid waste management as well as environmental and social improvements.

Govt to seek better climate solutions at Bali conference

Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Host Indonesia wishes to see a fresh and superior set of agreements arise from the momentous conference on climate change to be held this December in Bali, which will seek to interlock all nations in tinkering with the Kyoto Protocol to assure the environmental accord's future.

State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar said Tuesday the event was of great importance in responding to the alarming reports of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which foretells of the environmental implausibility of an inhabited world by around 2070.

"Now is the (time to gain) momentum. The UNFCCC reports pose an urgent pressure, under which, if states don't behave, we are all going to die," Rachmat told a discussion at The Jakarta Post's bureau.

He said the upcoming Bali climate conference is expected to improve the Kyoto Protocol, the implementation of which is faltering despite it having come into effect in February 2005.

Ratified by 140 nations and with the world's largest polluter, the United States, refusing its participation, the Kyoto Protocol aims at pushing developed nations to cut their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases blamed for global warming by 6 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

It includes mechanisms that allow Annex I economies to meet their targets by purchasing emissions reductions via financial exchanges, such as through the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, or earn them through projects which reduce emissions in Non-Annex I economies under the Clean Development Mechanism.

In practice, this means Non-Annex I economies have no emissions targets, but when an emissions reduction project is implemented in these countries, they receive carbon credits that can be sold to Annex I buyers.

Significant polluters such as the U.S. and Australia, which has a per capita pollution rate 4.5 times higher than the global average, have refused to ratify Kyoto, insisting to do so would harm their respective economies. They also claim it is unfair that developing nations such as China and India are exempt from obligations under the accord, despite them both emitting sizable quantities of greenhouse gases.

"Our objective is to make the Bali talks as effective as possible in engaging all signatories of the Kyoto Protocol, such as China and the U.S., because emissions reduction isn't going to work out without all nations partaking," Rachmat said.

Environmental activists have been consistently campaigning to promote awareness and action against global warming, which is said to have already started affecting lives in many parts of the world. It is believed global temperatures could increase by as much as two percent each year.

Indonesia is viewed as prone to the negative consequences of such climate change. Experts have observed that drastic temperature changes have already begun harming the country's staple agriculture sector as rainfall rates and drought seasons become more erratic.

Rachmat said Indonesia, which has one of the world's fastest rates of deforestation, was key to mitigating global climate change through its ability to facilitate reforestation projects.

"In this scheme, we want our efforts in fixing and conserving the forests to be well rewarded. Say, give some dollars for some hectares of forest (we will renew). We have a plan to replant four million new trees. We have the area but not the funds," he said.

Bekasi to trade CO2 reductions

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Bekasi municipality is hoping to generate funds through the trade of carbon by offering the ten-hectare Sumur Batu sanitary landfill site in Bantar Gebang to investors.

The head of the city's environmental agency, Dudi Setiabudi, said the Sumur Batu landfill currently handles 1,600 cubic meters of solid waste per day and produces 66,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually.

"We are now in the process of tendering the project to investors who are interested in developing it as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project," Dudi said.

Dudi visited the office of the Designated National Authority (DNA) on Wednesday to discuss the planned project, which will destroy methane gas generated at the landfill.

The DNA is a government body tasked with approving local DNA projects before they are submitted to the United Nation's Executive Board which has the final say on whether or not projects are viable.

Dudi said that several foreign companies from countries including Korea, Japan and France had expressed interest in the project.

"The initial investment needed to secure the required technology to process methane gas is over Rp 9 billion (approximately US$1 million) so we have to determine the winner through a tendering process," he said.

He said that based on a feasibility study conducted by the World Bank, the project could be extended for up to 21 years.

Dudi said that his administration had prepared all documents required to register the project with the DNA.

"We have discussed the plans with people living in close proximity to the planned project. They welcome the CDM idea because the project will mean landfill is managed better," he said.

The Bekasi administration is expected to register the project with the DNA in June.

The Sumur Batu landfill site, which is located near the 108-hectare Bantar Gebang landfill belonging to the Jakarta administration, is currently operated by the Bekasi Sanitation Agency.

However, Dudi said that residents living near the facility often complain about the poor waste management system which causes air and water pollution.

"We hope private investors can develop a waste management system that may reduce air and water pollution. The CDM project will benefit local people and provide extra income to the administration," he said.

The CDM is in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol, which encourages developing nations, including Indonesia, to develop projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Developers of projects receive a Certificate of Emission Reduction from the United Nations Executive Board, which specifies the amount of carbon that can be traded to rich nations.

A ton of CO2 reduction is currently valued at between US$5 and $10.

However, many predict that a ton of CO2 reduction may eventually reach up to $30.

Tax for Industry that Produces Pollution

Friday, 20 April, 2007 | 16:41 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The implementation of sanctions over industry that produce pollution will be more effective than a moratorium of new vehicle manufacturing. Industrial pollution, said former Coordinating Minister for the Economy Rizal Ramli, was one the causes of the green-house effect that affects global warming.

“There must be a financial sanction such as tax so that they reduce pollution gradually,” he said at the break of a discussion, “Settlement and Rehabilitation of Ecological Justice” yesterday (04/19). He responded to the plan of Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar's proposal of moratorium of new vehicle production if air pollution could not be reduced.

So far, developed countries, said Rizal, have always accused Indonesia as the agent of global warming by virtue of deforestation. State and multinational companies that produced pollution and the greenhouse effect should have paid Indonesia for any pollution they created.

However, developed countries such as the US in fact refused to be blamed and to sign the Kyoto Protocol and Carbon Emission Trading (CET). CET is a policy which regulates that industry be given the maximum pollutant rate that is admissible. Should it be abundant, industry should compensate.

NININ DAMAYANTI