Jakarta. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said Monday that ASEAN would need mammoth funding to shift to green energy sources over the next few decades.

Jokowi raised his concerns over the large financing needs for energy transition at the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) summit in Tokyo.

“ASEAN’s energy transition calls for $29.4 trillion funding by 2050. That is why we need to upscale sustainable funding. So we can achieve an energy transition that spurs economic growth and benefits the people,” Jokowi posted on the social media platform X on Monday, commenting on the recent AZEC forum.

He also listed what Indonesia had done to fund its decarbonization efforts through innovative and credible mechanisms. This includes the recently launched carbon exchange, which Jokowi believed held a whopping Rp 3,000 trillion (about $193 billion) potential.

The AZEC is a platform of Asian countries that mainly focuses on decarbonization efforts. Members include Australia, Japan, and ASEAN members Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. 

The AZEC leaders’ meeting adopted a joint statement which saw members acknowledging the importance of transition finance. They also agree to scale up investment in this regard through the AZEC. 

Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi later revealed more details on the AZEC meeting. According to Retno, Jokowi did not want the AZEC to just be “another forum for energy transition”, thus his calls for innovative funding.

“What the AZEC Summit agreed on accommodates what Indonesia has been advocating, namely recognition of the different pathways and technology towards energy transition. As well as the need to enhance the funding mechanism to close the financing gap in developing economies,” Retno told reporters on Monday.

The meeting saw Indonesia securing energy transition-related partnerships under the AZEC framework. Indonesia also made 24 memoranda of understanding (MoU) with Japan, among others, on partnerships related to geothermal and waste-to-energy programs, Retno said.

The huge amount of money needed for countries to entirely run on renewable energy has long become a concern for Indonesia. 

Jokowi made a similar statement at the recent UN climate summit COP28 in Dubai, saying that it would be impossible for developing countries to fund their energy transition alone. Jokowi even told the COP28 forum that Indonesia would need over $1 trillion in investments to reach net zero emissions by 2060.

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