A protester carries a placard that reads “The climate is an urgent matter, so no ghosting” during a protest against climate crisis in Central Jakarta on June 4, 2021. (JG Photo/Yudha Baskoro)
SEPTEMBER 01, 2021
Jakarta. Think-tank Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia, or FPCI, urges Indonesia to take a more proactive approach in combating climate change, following a recent alarming report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
“Climate change is going to be a struggle that is harder than our struggle for independence, the financial crisis, and Covid-19,” FPCI founder Dino Patti Djalal told a virtual discussion on Wednesday.
Small incremental actions will not get the job done. Addressing climate change requires total transformational efforts, according to Dino.
“We need to enforce climate nationalism as a new kind of nationalism. If you love your country and are patriotic, then you have to care about climate change,” the former diplomat said.
“If you envision a glorious Indonesia’s centennial in 2045, then you must assess climate risks, take climate responsibilities, and decarbonize the economy. There are no two ways about it,” he added.
In a report, the IPCC warned the world would pass the 1.5 degrees celsius threshold within the next two decades. The world would also face a scorching hot future with a global temperature of 4.4 degrees celsius higher.
“Indonesia needs to move beyond being defensive to being proactive,” Dino said.
FPCI has been fired up in bringing both the public and the government’s attention to climate change.
The think-tank even started a petition to urge the government to change its net zero emission target to no later than 2050. Indonesia is currently aiming to achieve net zero by 2060 or sooner. As of the time of writing, the petition has amassed 24,954 signatures.
“The magic word is ’50 percent reduction by 2030, net zero by 2050′. That is the medicine that will hopefully cure us from climate disaster,” Dino said.
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