Jakarta. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said Thursday that there is no reason to doubt green energy-rich Indonesia’s commitment to achieve net zero emission by 2060 or sooner, although Jakarta admitted that it needed huge investments and technologies to power the transition.

Jokowi claimed that Indonesia had got what it takes to drastically cut down its emissions as targeted. 

“Don’t doubt Indonesia’s commitment to achieve net zero emission and its ability to contribute to a greener country,” Jokowi told the high-profile International Sustainability Forum in Jakarta on Thursday.

The country’s green energy potential tops 3,600 gigawatts, be it solar or wind power, to name a few. Emirati renewable energy giant Masdar has made Indonesia home to Southeast Asia’s largest floating solar power plant. This facility, which lies at West Java’s Cirata Reservoir, has a capacity of 192 megawatt-peak. Indonesia’s total area of mangrove forests spans 3.3 million hectares, the largest in the world. Jokowi also claimed that the carbon absorption of mangrove forests was up to 12 times better compared to that of rainforests. 

“We have a 13,000-hectare green industrial estate,” Jokowi said, alluding to the Kalimantan Industrial Park Indonesia (KIPI) that would house the manufacturing of electric vehicle (EV) batteries, among others. Manufacturing activities in the industrial estate are set to use green power. 

While the commitment to cut down emissions is there, Indonesia needs financing and investments for it to be able to walk the talk. “But all of those will not have a significant impact on accelerating our efforts to address climate change impacts as long as developed countries are not brave enough to invest,” Jokowi said.

“As long as access to research and technology is not wide open. And as long as the financing lacks a scheme that is suitable for developing countries. Those three things are important for all of us to take note of,” he added.

The outgoing president then went on to say that Indonesia is open to working with anyone to take the most advantage out of its potential “for a greener world”. Jokowi did not say how much exactly would Indonesia need to fund its energy transition. But the government revealed earlier this week that Indonesia would require around $14.2 billion investments to bring the country’s renewable energy use to 8.2 gigawatts next year.