Net Zero Political Economy

This project focused on political will and near-term pathways for action consistent with long-term net-zero pathways, as well as the enabling environments - the regulatory frameworks, governance, leadership, and political breakthroughs necessary to set a target and provide for the capacity to implement it on the ground.

Background

Indonesia was a large developing country in transition whose natural resources could be managed to either positively or negatively contribute to global climate change. It was one of the largest tropical forest countries and in the top three mangrove-rich countries in the world. With decentralisation policy since 2004, the country had undergone a series of bureaucratic reforms and depleted its natural capital significantly. Yet the country remained overshadowed by its past political hegemony, and remained uncoordinated. There had been significant support for Indonesia’s net-zero emission targets. However, none had significantly challenged the status quo of the SOEs as the main operators and implementers in the country, who managed a large share of natural capital, as expressed in Indonesia’s constitution.

Approach

This project used the following approaches.

Scoping and Literature Review (Desktop Research)
Data collection (Interviews and surveys)
Synthesis
Communication, visualisation, narrative development, and outreach

Results

This research found that Indonesia’s commitment to reaching NZE was obstructed not only by six contextual issues but also by a greater political economy issue relating to structure and agency. The structural roadblock and agency challenges were the main obstacles to achieving NZE; despite some challenges, there lay opportunities to build a constructive environment.