Looking Past the Horizon: the Case for Indonesia’s Long-Term Strategy for Climate Action

This research paper argues for the necessity of Indonesia developing a long-term strategy (LTS) for climate action to secure economic growth and mitigate risks beyond 2030, suggesting that the existing low-carbon development initiative (LCDI) could serve as a foundation.

• Indonesia lacks a long-term decarbonization plan despite committing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 29 percent to up to 41 percent against business-as-usual levels by 2030. Establishing a long-term strategy (LTS) that extends beyond 5–10 years is presented as a way to protect the country from long-term costs, provide certainty for investments, and potentially establish Indonesia as a global leader in sustainability.
• The primary priorities for an LTS are the energy system and land use. In the energy sector, long-term planning can help avoid high-cost infrastructure and stranded assets by aligning power plant expansion with global technology trends. For land use, an LTS could improve management and encourage the protection of peatlands and pristine forests to prevent economic losses from fires and provide low-cost mitigation.
• The low-carbon development initiative (LCDI), launched by the Ministry of National Development Planning (BAPPENAS), could serve as the basis for an LTS because it includes modeling projections and scenarios up to 2045 and is linked to the national policy planning process (RPJMN). The paper notes that this initiative requires close involvement from local governments and other sectoral ministries.
• Existing long-term modeling indicates that Indonesia's emissions will continue to rise, driven primarily by the energy system (specifically electricity) and land use (specifically forest fires, peatland degradation, and deforestation).
• The development of an LTS model should involve the co-creation and co-production of knowledge with nonstate actors to ensure the model incorporates the assumptions and concerns of various groups.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Looking Past the Horizon: the Case for Indonesia’s Long-Term Strategy for Climate Action. https://www.wri.org/research/looking-past-horizon-case-indonesias-long-term-strategy-climate-action

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Looking Past the Horizon: the Case for Indonesia’s Long-Term Strategy for Climate Action. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/looking-past-horizon-case-indonesias-long-term-strategy-climate-action.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Looking Past the Horizon: the Case for Indonesia’s Long-Term Strategy for Climate Action |url=https://www.wri.org/research/looking-past-horizon-case-indonesias-long-term-strategy-climate-action |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendlooking, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Looking Past the Horizon: the Case for Indonesia’s Long-Term Strategy for Climate Action}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/looking-past-horizon-case-indonesias-long-term-strategy-climate-action}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }