Leading the Indonesian Delegation, Vice President Ma’ruf Amin Attends the Opening of the COP27 Climate Change Summit in Egypt

Sharm El Sheikh, wapresri.go.id – The 27th United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP27) was held at Sharm El Sheikh International Convention Center (SHICC), Sharm El Sheikh, Arab Republic of Egypt, from 6 to 18 November 2022. In the afternoon local time, the COP27 Summit was officially opened by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Monday (07/11/2022).

At the opening ceremony which was attended by delegates from 110 countries, Vice President (VP) K.H. Ma’ruf Amin was present in person to represent President Joko Widodo to lead the Delegation of the Republic of Indonesia. Of the 110 countries that attended, as many as 63 heads of state/government were confirmed to be present, including the VP.

Upon arrival at SHICC, the VP was greeted by President El-Sisi and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. After shaking hands and greeting each other, the VP then headed to the conference room to attend the opening ceremony of the COP27 Summit.

For information, the issue of climate change is an important issue for every country and is one of the topics on the joint agenda at the COP27.

COP27 Sharm El Sheikh carries the theme “Together for Implementation” with priority issues discussed regarding adaptation, loss and damage, finance, mitigation, Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, and transparency related to climate change.

At this summit, Indonesian negotiators focused on the need to “implement” various decisions and mandates from COP26 Glasgow, Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), Long Term Strategy (LTS), and funding commitments.

Important Issues and Targets for Indonesia

First, the increasing ambition for climate change adaptation and mitigation actions, especially in developing countries, will have consequences, will accelerate efforts to create enabling conditions, including through the creation of strong domestic national policies that are in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Second, Indonesia must emphasize the urgency and importance of supporting developing countries through capacity building, technology transfer-development and application, climate change finance mobilization, which must be accompanied by coherence of funding flows for climate-resilient low-carbon development.

Third, in implementing climate action acceleration in this transitional period, Indonesia still needs to pay attention to considerations that respect differences in environmental conditions and local needs, local government systems, and local knowledge and wisdom.

The goal of Global Adaptation, otherwise known as the Global Goal on Adaptation, is to design adaptive capacity building and strengthening resilience in order to reduce vulnerability and contribute to sustainable development. Adaptive Capacity, which means staying based on the aforementioned local considerations, which have contributed positively to sustainable development.

Fourth, for Indonesia, the mobilization of public funds remains a key enabler for climate finance, especially for adaptation actions. Indonesia also continues to work on identifying synergies between public and private funding sources at the national level, and bilateral – multilateral sources in the context of providing and mobilizing funding sources, including exploring various alternative and innovative funding sources that should not undermine efforts towards debt sustainability.

In addition, Indonesia emphasizes the importance of fiscal and financial policies, sectoral regulations and financial regulations, as well as public funding instruments that take into account national conditions as a driver of private funding mobilization to improve climate-related risk management and NDC implementation.

Fifth, as a maritime country, Indonesia realizes the importance of increasing understanding of the ocean and climate nexus by strengthening scientific work through research and development, improving marine modeling and observations for data management and collection. This can be Indonesia’s modality in participating in advancing the Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue as a continuation of the initiative that was initiated at COP25 in Madrid in 2019.

So far, Indonesia has provided an example of implementing the Glasgow Climate Pact, by submitting the Enhanced Nationally Determined Contribution (ENDC) document to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in September 2022, which contains an increase in the target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Since the COP26 Summit, Indonesia has actively taken important follow-up steps, including prioritizing the transition to sustainable energy in the agenda of Indonesia’s G20 presidency. In addition, the conservation and restoration of Indonesia’s natural assets also continue to increase, including the potential for expansion of the mangrove area of 756 thousand hectares that is able to absorb carbon. This increase is in line with policies including the implementation of a carbon tax, achieving the 2030 Forestry and Other Land Use (FOLU) Net Sink, accelerating the development of the electric vehicle ecosystem, as well as the initiation of the B40 biodiesel program.

Indonesia further calls for other parties, especially the Developed Countries group that have not updated their NDC 2030 targets to immediately increase their ambitions for mitigation, adaptation, and means of implementation at COP27.

Accompanying the VP at the Opening of the COP27 Summit, Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya Bakar and Director General of Multilateral Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tri Tharyat. (NN/LHS-BPMI Setwapres)