Climate Consideration on Bioenergy Policy in Indonesia

Indonesia began to develop bioenergy policies in 2006. By 2015, the biofuel policy grew progressive through increasing blending and consumption mandates. Now it has become a national strategic project for 2020-2024. While the policy was integrated into the Nationally Determined Contributions, it raises controversies over land use change and its associated environmental and social implications. Against this backdrop, we evaluate the bioenergy policy in Indonesia in view of the benchmarks obtained from those of Brazil and Malaysia. We find that Indonesia’s biodiesel policy still emphasizes economic benefits at the sacrifice of the environment and society, and it suffers from a lack of clear targets, phasing, coordination among ministries, and consistent political support that have made the countermeasures against land use changes ineffective. Therefore, evaluating the biofuel target to be more realistic to minimize land expansion, strengthening and increasing the replanting policy, and diversification of feedstocks for bioenergy, coupled with institutional development to support it can bring the country out of the deadlock.