climate policy
Indonesia to build coal plants despite $20b deal on clean energy transition
JAKARTA — Indonesia will continue building new coal-fired power plants, despite a recent $20 billion deal with the G7 group of industrialized countries to help it transition to clean energy. Activists say this puts the deal, known as the Just Energy Transition Partnership and signed at the G20 summit that Indonesia hosted earlier this month, […]
Indonesia seals $20 billion deal with G7 to speed up clean energy transition
JAKARTA — Indonesia has struck a historic deal with the G7 group of industrialized countries on a $20 billion financing package to help it speed up its transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) will see the G7 plus Denmark and Norway deliver the funding to Indonesia over the […]
EU votes to keep woody biomass as renewable energy, ignores climate risk
While forest advocates had high hopes, the EU parliament voted this week not to declassify woody biomass as a renewable energy source, paving the way for more EU, U.S., and Canadian forests to be turned into wood pellets and burned.
Climate change hits northern Mexico, as officials look to solve water crisis
In northern Mexico, it’s become common to see tankers delivering thousands of gallons of water to local middle and high schools. People wait in long lines outside of convenience stores to purchase water jugs. And in some cases, armed men intercept delivery trucks and take water back to their own neighborhoods for distribution. Water has […]
Planned coal plants fizzle as Japan ends financing in Indonesia, Bangladesh
JAKARTA — Major coal-fired power plant projects in Indonesia and Bangladesh have effectively been cancelled after the Japanese government, their main funder, recently announced it would stop providing loans to build such plants in the two countries. For Indonesia in particular, the move also means the loss of the top three foreign funders of coal […]
Study: Indonesia’s forest-clearing moratorium underdelivered — but so did donors
JAKARTA — An eight-year effort by Indonesia to protect its remaining forests contributed just 4% of its emissions reduction target, yet still yielded carbon savings worth far more than it was paid under a deal with Norway. That’s the finding from a new study, which calls for better carbon pricing and financing at the global […]
COP26 cop-out? Indonesia’s clean energy pledge keeps coal front and center
JAKARTA — Indonesia has signed another seemingly landmark pledge at the COP26 climate summit underway in Glasgow, this time to phase out its use of coal, the dominant source in its energy mix, by the 2040s. But as with the first pledge it made at COP26 — to end deforestation by 2030, which it then […]
New restoration “Playbook” calls for political, economic, and social change
International forest and climate experts have released a “playbook” for ecosystem restoration with a set of 10 principles that they say, if followed, could be a game-changer. The Political Ecology Playbook, published in the journal Global Environmental Change, recognizes that issues such as climate change and forest loss are not just biophysical and environmental problems, […]
Scientists urge Biden to remove logging, fossil fuels, biomass from budget bills
More than 100 scientists have issued a letter urging U.S. President Biden and Congress to remove provisions promoting logging, forest biomass and fossil fuels from the multitrillion-dollar infrastructure and reconciliation (Build Back Better) bills.