A catalyst for ideas and action

Indonesia Policy Hub: A platform to identify challenges and implementable solutions to decarbonise the building sector in Indonesia

The next eight years to 2030 are critical for increasing efforts to support Indonesia’s target to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2060 or sooner. But there are functional obstacles standing in the way. 

According to  Sandra Pranoto, Senior Advisor, GBPN Indonesia, there is high engagement from government ministries and sub-national governments and a strong desire to get started but collaboration is a challenge. 

“Everyone is very enthusiastic about working towards the net-zero emissions goal and we have done some fantastic work with key national ministries and sub-national governments,” she said.

“But there are gaps, overlaps and there is no easy way for the different stakeholders to come together and collaborate. GBPN has created the Indonesia Policy Hub to provide a platform that enables more systematic engagement with different ministries and levels of government and assists them in aligning their policies and initiatives. This is the key to avoiding gaps or overlaps and ensuring the approach is strategic and implementable.

“The Policy Hub also gives us the opportunity to brief various national ministries and seek  information on decarbonisation opportunities available in the building sector in Indonesia.”

Breaking the silos around decarbonization regulations

Another key challenge  in building decarbonisation efforts is institutional, according to Ratri Widyadari, National Strategic Advisor, GBPN Indonesia. Ms Widyadari is leading the work on the Policy Hub and says this issue is something the Policy Hub is well placed to support.

“Our work with the different government agencies has shown us that the Indonesian regulations are too top-down. A systematic engagement platform for dialogue on decarbonisation ideas and actions is non-existent,” Ms Widyadari said. 

To address these issues, the Policy Hub team built four thematic areas to engage with the government across ministries and national and sub-national levels. 

The four thematic areas are: 

• Policy Opportunities
• Capacity Building and Technical Implementation
• Market Drivers
• Innovation. 

“These thematic areas help us to identify key challenges and opportunities for green building policy implementation,” Ms Widyadari said. 

“The thematic approach is already showing results. The approach was well-received at a recent Focus Group Discussion with key national agencies. The participants were able to identify where urgent action was needed with nearly 80% acknowledging that Policy Opportunities and Capacity Building as the most important of them. 

“This is exactly what we hope to achieve with the Policy Hub; a platform where the stakeholders can identify opportunities and support needed to meet Indonesia’s green building vision.”

The strategic framework for the thematic areas was developed in partnership with Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), Jakarta, Indonesia. 

Priority agendas clear up the path to urgent action 

The thematic areas can be seen as priority agendas that form the heart and soul of the engagement process with the different stakeholders, says Ms Widyadari.

“Policy opportunities relate to policy reforms, that could be new regulations or revisions of existing ones to make them more aligned to the NDCs and net-zero targets,” said Ms Widyadari. 

“Capacity Building and Technical Implementation helps to identify implementation gaps in existing regulations, or capacity building for new implementation. Sometimes executing agencies may need more guidelines from the national government, which is then identified and facilitated by the Policy Hub.

“Market drivers relate to incentive policies and alternative financing mechanisms for adoption of sustainable buildings. And finally, the fourth thematic area, Innovation relates to development of new technologies to support decarbonization initiatives in the building sector. How can sustainable building material be made more cost-effective, more affordable and easily accessible. How do we incentivize the business sector to innovate (through research and development) to develop the market.”