JAKARTA — When Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto called on U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House earlier this week, the two leaders spoke of their shared commitments on a range of issues, including the clean energy transition, sustainable agriculture and sustainable fisheries. Just over three weeks earlier, however, there was little mention of any of these in Prabowo’s fiery inauguration address in Jakarta. And for observers in Indonesia, it’s this nearly hour-long, unscripted speech, more than any carefully crafted communiqué from White House staff, that more accurately reflects the new president’s approach to climate change and environmental issues at large. “The presidential speech strongly indicates that [Prabowo] won’t pay much attention to the three planetary crises: climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution,” said Susan Herawati, secretary-general of the Coalition for Fisheries Justice (KIARA), an advocacy group. In that Oct. 20 speech, Prabowo called for Indonesia to be energy self-sufficient: “We have been blessed [with] plants such as oil palm can produce diesel and gasoline,” he said, adding that Indonesia also has “a lot of coal.” The country relies on coal for two-thirds of its grid electricity, and the government’s idea of a clean energy transition is to gradually phase it out with biofuels and biomass — burning processed plant matter in place of fossilized plant matter. This despite a growing chorus from the science community that burning biofuels and biomass can be even more carbon-intensive than burning coal. Captive coal power plant behind a school on Obi Island. Image courtesy…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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