Assessing Jakarta’s Climate Investments
Photo by Adrian Pranata on Unsplash
“As one of the metropolitan areas with the highest population density in the world, Jakarta has experienced many climate challenges. Jakarta is commonly known as the “world’s fastest sinking city” (World Economic Forum, 2018), as about half of the city is located beneath sea level, with some neighborhoods sinking as fast as nine inches per year. Some of the root causes of this sinking are (i) groundwater exploitation—Jakarta has low water levels for drinking and other everyday purposes so the citizens have to resort to pump water from aquifers that are deep underground, (ii) poor city planning—growth of urban population increases demand and reliance for ground water and (iii) climate change that caused accelerated sea level rise, increase of rainfall intensity, and continuation of extreme weather, which leads to increased flood risks. Meanwhile, Jakarta is committed to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions by 30% in 2030 from current business as usual 35 MT CO2e, thus significant funding is required to achieve this target.
Despite the existing climate risks and the ambitious 2030 GHG emission reduction target, only 8.6% of Jakarta’s municipal budget went to environment-related spending in 2017 and 2018, despite its strong fiscal capacity. Playing several roles as the national capital, a central place of control for the national economy, Jakarta can generate more revenue annually, as compared to other municipalities in Indonesia. Its climate related commitments are also included in the regional action plan for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely the 2017-2022 RPJMD. Furthermore, the fiscal space allows Jakarta to initiate the necessary climate related projects, with alignment and coordination at the national and sub-national level, to achieve climate targets. However, no previous research has tracked Jakarta’s investment in climate finance. This case study is a first-of-its-kind attempt to track public and private urban climate investment flows in Jakarta. Climate finance tracking helps to identify key sources of funding for urban climate projects, providing stakeholders with better insights into the type of climate financing (in both adaptation and mitigation) and supports government agencies in formulating policy guidance.”
Read this report by Tiza Mafira, Luthfyana Kartika Larasati, Brurce Muhammad Mecca, Alke Rabinsa Haesra, Chavi Meattle, Angela Falconer, Priscilla Negreiros, Kristiina Yang and Laura Jungman for Climate Policy Initiative.
