Developed countries urged to keep their pledge

Developed countries urged to keep their pledge

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 11/26/2009 1:30 PM | National

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/11/26/developed-countries-urged-keep-their-pledge.html

Environmental NGOs urge developed countries to give up their plans to provide financial assistance to developing countries as part of an effort to mitigate impacts of climate change while reducing their own emissions cuts commitments.

Coordinator of the Civil Society Forum (CSF), Giorgio Budi, said Tuesday the planned aid program to motivate developing countries to reduce emissions was not a good idea in mitigating the impacts of global warming.

"Developed countries should not withdraw from commitments to cut their own emissions," he told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

"This would go against any progress achieved at the Copenhagen climate talks in December," he added.

Through the clean development mechanism (CDM), developed countries are allowed to offset their carbon emissions by financing clean projects in developing countries.

Separately, chairman of the Joint Committee for Leaded Gasoline Phaseout (KPBB), Ahmad Safrudin, said financial assistance for developing countries would not be any use if developed countries were not committed to reducing their own emissions, leaving developing countries to bear the brunt of global warming.

"Such financial assistance would only make developing countries *emissions toilets' for developed countries," he told a discussion held by the Clean Air Forum.

President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono has pledged to voluntarily cut Indonesia's carbon emissions by 26 percent by 2020 using the state budget, despite a report by the World Bank and Britain's development arm naming Indonesia the world's third-largest carbon polluter after the US and China.

The report, released in 2007, said Indonesia's emitted 3 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year, after the US, the world's top emitter with 6 billion tons and China with 5 billion tons.

Yudhoyono further said Indonesia could slash its emissions by up to 41 percent from the energy, waste and forestry sectors should rich nations provide financial assistance.

Rich nations have demanded that developing countries, especially Brazil, China, India and Indonesia, agree to binding emission cuts.

Developing countries have rejected the calls, arguing that industrial countries have produced the majority of harmful emissions in recent decades and should bear the cost of fixing the problem.

Alternatively, Ahmad said, developed countries were encouraged to transfer environmentally friendly technology to developing countries to reduce vehicle emissions.

"Indonesia has not widely utilized such technology, as the government does not provide incentives for environmentally-friendly hybrid cars," he said.

Motor vehicles accounted for 40 percent of global CO2 emissions. Vehicle exhaust emissions account for 70 percent of air pollution in Jakarta, the world's eighth most polluted city

The Industry Ministry's director general for transportation, telecommunications and informatics industries, Budi Darmadi, said recently the government planned to provide incentives to carmakers to produce environmentally friendly vehicles by 2012.

"The incentives are still being discussed. We are determining the criteria for the technical and performance aspects of the low-cost *green cars'," he said.

In Indonesia, hybrid cars with price tags above Rp 500 million (US$52,770) cater to limited markets, as opposed to popular minivan cars which are priced between Rp 100 million and Rp 200 million. (nia)