Made Arya Kencana

Indonesia Earns Cash on Carbon Market

Nusa Dua, Bali. The head of the National Council for Climate Change, Rachmat Witoelar, has said that Indonesia has so far generated at least 300,000 euros from the carbon market.

The carbon market is a system set up under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol that allows developing countries to sell Certified Emission Reduction certificates that represent reductions in carbon emissions.

The 300,000 euros were earned from 30 CER certificates that have been approved by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

“One certificate equals one ton of carbon dioxide gas, which is currently worth 20,000 euros,” he said on Monday, the first day of the 31st Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change plenary session being held here until Thursday. About 430 experts on climate change from 140 countries are attending the event.

Witoelar said that Indonesia had so far proposed 127 certificates to the board, worth more than 10 million euros. He added that the total potential emission reductions in Indonesia was worth 200 million euros.

Witoelar encouraged the country not to hastily sell the CERs as the carbon trade mechanism would be discussed thoroughly during the 15th UNFCCC conference to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December, and the price was likely to go up.

Witoelar added that Indonesia would remind the world about the importance of implementing the Bali Road Map agreement, which outlines the obligation of developed countries to pay the cost of emission reductions carried out by developing countries, and to provide assistance to minimize the impact of climate change.

Indonesia also stated its commitment to reducing emissions by 26 percent by 2020, and its ambition to transform itself from a carbon-emitting country to a carbon-managing nation by 2030.

To achieve that goal, Indonesia has two major assets, its forests with their huge carbon absorption capacity, and the sea, where the Indonesian Throughflow helps absorb CO2 from the sea.

The director of IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri, said one challenge facing climate experts was how to anticipate the impact of climate change at a national, rather than global, level.

Pachauri said that better research and information gathering was required to support the drafting and adaptation of disaster-mitigation policies at national and local levels.

“Then their benefits can be truly received by the government and the people,” he said.

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