Indonesia to scale up UN climate pledge

Indonesia will scale up its climate pledge to the United Nations for reducing carbon emissions and a decision is due in mid-September, a senior government adviser said on Monday.

Indonesia, the world’s  biggest producer of palm oil and home to the third largest rainforest,  will have an important role at the crucial UN Climate Change Conference in Paris in December when a global deal to limit emissions and global warming is due to be agreed.

Rachmat Witoelar, President Joko Widodo's special envoy for climate change, told Reuters: "We intend to increase the contribution and we will do so…But we have to figure out the timeline."

Indonesia is facing pressure from the international community to reduce deforestation and the destruction of carbon-rich peatlands that many palm oil firms are expanding into.

Indonesia introduced a moratorium on deforestation in 2010 as part of a $1-billion climate agreement with Norway and the REDD deal covers a total area of more than 65 million hectares.

As the biggest economy is South-East Asia, Indonesia has also committed to reducing greenhouse emissions by 26 per cent by 2020 or 41 per cent if financial and technical support is provided by developed countries as part of UN-led efforts to reach a global climate deal at the end of the year.

Witoelar, a former minister for the environment, said the government will hold a 10-day consultation with stakeholders with a final decision on the emissions reduction pledge due in mid-September.