Jakarta. Coal-reliant Indonesia recently endorsed nuclear power in front of world leaders who were gathering in Brazil ahead of the closely watched COP30 talks.

On Thursday local time, Brazil hosted the Belém Climate Summit that saw countries around the world listing what they had done and wished to do to safeguard the planet. Indonesia was among those that included nuclear power in their plan. According to Indonesia’s climate envoy Hashim Djojohadikusumo, the country remains committed to its goal of achieving an 8 percent economic growth. However, Jakarta wants to expand its economy in a sustainable manner as it places a cap on its emissions of up to 1.5 gigatons by 2035.

“Our commitment includes higher renewable energy targets, reaching 23 percent of our energy mix by 2030. As well as the development of other technologies such as nuclear power as part of our green energy transition,” Hashim said.

Hashim did not go into details on Indonesia’s nuclear agenda. However, the government has repeatedly stated that nuclear power would not be a last option, reflecting Jakarta’s openness to the energy source that is still subject to debate. The country aims to operate its first nuclear plant by 2032. It wishes to generate 44 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2060. 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the same Belém conference that his country had been making some huge investments in nuclear power.

“We are delivering the largest investment of clean energy in British history and the biggest nuclear building program in a generation. To take back control of our energy system and make Britain a clean energy superpower,” Starmer said.

In its nuclear journey, Indonesia has teamed up with the US on developing a small modular reactor in a partnership that involved the Oregon-based NuScale. PLN Indonesia Power, a subsidiary of the state electricity company, also received a $2.3 million grant from the US Trade and Development Agency to run this feasibility study in West Kalimantan. Senior minister Airlangga Hartarto, not long ago, announced that Indonesia had already completed the feasibility study. A small modular reactor's power capacity is only one-third of that of the traditional nuclear plants.

Russia -- home to the world’s first floating nuclear plant -- has long expressed interest in investing in Indonesia's nuclear power generation. However, its ambassador Sergei Tolchenov recently told the reporters that Indonesia had not signed a contract to this day. But the offer to help Indonesia develop nuclear plants of all sizes remains on the table, according to Tolchenov.

President Prabowo Subianto has skipped the COP30 talks. His younger brother Hashim also represented Indonesia at last year’s UN climate summit in Azerbaijan on his behalf.

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