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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/emission-reduction/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 30 Jul 2026 11:50:41 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Emission Reduction</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/emission-reduction/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Indonesia&#8217;s blackouts reignite debate over coal-dependent energy transition</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesias-blackouts-reignite-debate-over-coal-dependent-energy-transition/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesias-blackouts-reignite-debate-over-coal-dependent-energy-transition/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Jul 2026 09:45:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/09170445/chimneys-of-Suralaya-coal-power-plant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322168</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Java, Global, Indonesia, Java, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Energy Security, Energy Transition, Environmental Policy, Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Health, Just Transition, Pollution, Public Health, Renewable Energy, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Calls are mounting for Indonesia to accelerate its energy transition after widespread blackouts struck Java and Sumatra in recent weeks, exposing what analysts say are deep vulnerabilities in a power system that remains highly centralized and heavily dependent on coal. In late May, large parts of Sumatra lost electricity after a transmission line [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Calls are mounting for Indonesia to accelerate its energy transition after widespread blackouts struck Java and Sumatra in recent weeks, exposing what analysts say are deep vulnerabilities in a power system that remains highly centralized and heavily dependent on coal. In late May, large parts of Sumatra lost electricity after a transmission line in Jambi failed. Just days later, a separate outage disrupted power across parts of Java, Indonesia&#8217;s most populous island and economic center. While officials initially pointed to technical problems, state utility PLN later said constrained coal supplies had contributed to the Java outage. For energy analysts, the outages underscore a broader structural problem. &#8220;The dependence on a centralized, coal-dominated electricity system is a threat to energy supply security,&#8221; said Fabby Tumiwa, executive director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR). To reduce the risk of more widespread outages, analysts at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a U.S.-based think tank, said Indonesia should accelerate the      deployment of decentralized renewable energy, particularly rooftop solar combined with battery energy storage systems (BESS). &#8220;For Indonesia, an archipelago of thousands of islands, rooftop solar combined with battery energy storage systems offers a viable alternative to diesel power, which can be costly and challenging to supply,&#8221; IEEFA researchers Mutya Yustika and Randi Bachtiar wrote in a recent analysis. Unlike fossil fuels, they noted, solar power is not vulnerable to fuel supply disruptions or price volatility. Because rooftop systems can be installed on homes, businesses and industrial&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesias-blackouts-reignite-debate-over-coal-dependent-energy-transition/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322168</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Solar brings power to women entrepreneurs in Borneo, but rural energy inequality remains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/solar-brings-power-to-women-entrepreneurs-in-borneo-but-rural-energy-inequality-remains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/solar-brings-power-to-women-entrepreneurs-in-borneo-but-rural-energy-inequality-remains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2026 10:36:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yuda Almerio]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/14100334/solar-panels-and-cacti-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319421</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Gender, Governance, Just Transition, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Solar Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KUTAI KARTANEGARA, Indonesia — Asniah recalls nights lying in darkness listening to cicadas and the passing hum of outboard motors after her family moved to Muara Enggelam in the 1990s, an over-the-water village in the interior of Indonesian Borneo, cut off from basic services. Around the turn of the century, a handful of homes in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KUTAI KARTANEGARA, Indonesia — Asniah recalls nights lying in darkness listening to cicadas and the passing hum of outboard motors after her family moved to Muara Enggelam in the 1990s, an over-the-water village in the interior of Indonesian Borneo, cut off from basic services. Around the turn of the century, a handful of homes in Muara Enggelam acquired diesel generators, bringing electric lighting for the first time to the timber stilt houses that still line the last mile of the river where the Enggelam meets Borneo’s Lake Melintang. The Kutai Kartanegara district government here later expanded this basic electrification program, but residents paid several times more for power than a grid-connected urban household. Moreover, the generators ran only from dusk to dawn and would frequently break down, plunging Muara Enggelam back into the void Asniah recalled on moving here three decades earlier as a child. “We were just grateful — things had been harder before,” Asniah, a mother of three now in her early 40s, told Mongabay Indonesia at her home. “Even though there was 24-hour electricity in the city at the time,” she added. Stable energy access provides greater scope for women to develop businesses and contribute to the family economy. Image by Yuda Almerio/Mongabay Indonesia Remote work Uneven access to electricity has abetted inequality in what is now Indonesia ever since Dutch colonialists introduced captive coal plants in the 19th century to power their plantation operations. Indonesia’s Gini coefficient, a measure of inequality, records the wealth gap between&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/solar-brings-power-to-women-entrepreneurs-in-borneo-but-rural-energy-inequality-remains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/solar-brings-power-to-women-entrepreneurs-in-borneo-but-rural-energy-inequality-remains/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319421</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fossil fuel subsidies and high costs stall energy transition across rural Indonesia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/fossil-fuel-subsidies-and-high-costs-stall-energy-transition-across-rural-indonesia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/fossil-fuel-subsidies-and-high-costs-stall-energy-transition-across-rural-indonesia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Apr 2026 11:35:35 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Luh De Suriyani]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/21113035/DJI_0067-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317800</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Just Transition, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Solar Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DENPASAR, Indonesia — Renewable energy uptake has yet to gather momentum across Indonesia’s more than 84,000 villages, a new report concludes, as the government of the world’s fourth-largest country pledges to achieve a radical energy transformation over the next decade. “Village street lighting has increased, while household use has declined due to high initial costs, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DENPASAR, Indonesia — Renewable energy uptake has yet to gather momentum across Indonesia’s more than 84,000 villages, a new report concludes, as the government of the world’s fourth-largest country pledges to achieve a radical energy transformation over the next decade. “Village street lighting has increased, while household use has declined due to high initial costs, minimal incentives, and the dominance of fossil fuel subsidies,” according to the Village Energy Transition Readiness Index, a report published by Jakarta-based think tank the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) and Greenpeace. Indonesia’s statistics agency counted 84,291 villages across the world’s largest archipelagic nation as of 2025. Around 1.4 million people among Indonesia’s population of 270 million still lack all access to electricity, according to Eniya Listiani Dewi, the renewable energy lead at Indonesia’s mining and energy ministry. “Previously, many villages had clean energy initiatives, including solar power plants, micro-hydropower plants, and others, but the number of such initiatives has actually gone down,” said Wahyudi Askar at Celios. Despite technological progress and availability of cheaper solar hardware, the total number of villages and subdistricts reporting solar power use among households declined from 4,176 in 2021 to 3,076 in 2024, a reduction of 26.4%. However, the number of villages using street lighting powered by photovoltaics increased over the same period. Some 24,766 villages or neighborhood areas used solar to power streetlights in 2021, and this increased by 20.1% over the three-year period to 30,476 in total. For more than a decade, local governments and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/fossil-fuel-subsidies-and-high-costs-stall-energy-transition-across-rural-indonesia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/fossil-fuel-subsidies-and-high-costs-stall-energy-transition-across-rural-indonesia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317800</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s steel expansion risks a surge in greenhouse gas emissions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indonesias-steel-expansion-risks-a-surge-in-greenhouse-gas-emissions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indonesias-steel-expansion-risks-a-surge-in-greenhouse-gas-emissions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Feb 2026 04:31:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/11042419/PR-05012026-02-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314073</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Health, Industry, Planetary Health, Pollution, Public Health, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s steel industry is becoming one of the country’s fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, even as it receives far less public attention than other carbon-intensive sectors. The industry is already one of the country’s largest industrial emitters, and is set to become far more polluting if current trends continue, according to a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s steel industry is becoming one of the country’s fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, even as it receives far less public attention than other carbon-intensive sectors. The industry is already one of the country’s largest industrial emitters, and is set to become far more polluting if current trends continue, according to a report by environmental NGO Action for Ecology and People’s Emancipation (AEER). Global demand for steel is rising, driven by the expansion of electric vehicles, renewable energy and infrastructure projects. Against this backdrop, Indonesia’s crude steel production climbed to around 16.8 million metric tons, making it the world’s 15th-largest steel producer in 2023, according to the World Steel Association. AEER estimates that Indonesia’s steel output could grow twelvefold by 2060, with emissions rising 11.7 times from 2023 level if the industry continues to rely on coal-based production. At that scale, steel alone could account for around 31% of Indonesia’s national greenhouse gas emissions by 2060 if current policies remain unchanged, potentially putting Indonesia’s net-zero target out of reach. Indonesia’s high emissions stem largely from its reliance on coal-based blast furnace steelmaking, which uses coal both as a chemical input and as a source of the extremely high heat required to smelt iron ore. “The steel industry is one of the largest emitters within the industrial sector, making it a top priority for decarbonization. Steelmaking processes require extremely high temperatures, resulting in very high emissions,” said Timotius Rafael, a researcher at AEER, as quoted by local news.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indonesias-steel-expansion-risks-a-surge-in-greenhouse-gas-emissions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indonesias-steel-expansion-risks-a-surge-in-greenhouse-gas-emissions/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314073</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Silvopasture gains momentum in the Amazon, but can it shrink beef’s footprint?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/silvopasture-gains-momentum-in-the-amazon-but-can-it-shrink-beefs-footprint/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/silvopasture-gains-momentum-in-the-amazon-but-can-it-shrink-beefs-footprint/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jan 2026 12:26:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charlie Espinosa]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandra Popescu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/07120648/PHOTO-2025-12-06-10-21-49-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312670</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Beef, Biodiversity, Carbon Emissions, Cattle, Conservation, Emission Reduction, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Pasture, Ranching, Threats To Rainforests, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the rolling hills of Iñapari, a remote town in the Peruvian Amazon on the tri-border with Bolivia and Brazil, cattle ranchers are ditching grass monocultures, which have been shown to harm biodiversity, in favor of forested pastures. For Antonio Cardozo, a local rancher who has planted hundreds of native trees, the switch has improved [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the rolling hills of Iñapari, a remote town in the Peruvian Amazon on the tri-border with Bolivia and Brazil, cattle ranchers are ditching grass monocultures, which have been shown to harm biodiversity, in favor of forested pastures. For Antonio Cardozo, a local rancher who has planted hundreds of native trees, the switch has improved his cattle’s diet and health, while also providing him with additional sources of food and income. “Learning has a cost, but in a few years you start to see a difference,” says Cardozo, who has been combining trees with rotational grazing, a practice that keeps the soil intact and allows grass to regrow. In less than a year, this practice allowed him to more than double the number of cows he grazes per hectare Livestock farming is responsible for roughly 80% of the deforestation in the Amazon Basin and 14.5% of greenhouse gas emissions globally. Yet agricultural solutions receive just 7% of global climate funding and were absent from the recent COP30 climate summit agreement. According to some researchers, planting trees in pastures, an agroforestry technique known as silvopasture, represents one of the most effective yet neglected opportunities to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Under ideal conditions, silvopasture sequesters carbon in trees and soils while providing better forage and shade to heat-stressed cows, leading to healthier animals that emit less methane and occupy less land. It can also help small farmers adapt to climate-related disasters — responsible for $2.9 trillion in losses over the last&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/silvopasture-gains-momentum-in-the-amazon-but-can-it-shrink-beefs-footprint/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/silvopasture-gains-momentum-in-the-amazon-but-can-it-shrink-beefs-footprint/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312670</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Can two Amazons survive? Invisible e-waste is poisoning the world</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/can-two-amazons-survive-invisible-e-waste-is-poisoning-the-world/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/can-two-amazons-survive-invisible-e-waste-is-poisoning-the-world/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Dec 2025 21:18:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerry McGovernSue Branford]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/03083255/10-Abogbloshie-dump-in-Ghana-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310477</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Ghana, Global, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Business, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Footprint, Climate Change, Consumption, E-waste, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Environmental Policy, Global Environmental Crisis, Globalization, Health, Industry, Mining, Overconsumption, Planetary Health, Pollution, Public Health, Recycling, Research, Water, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“I live in Accra, Ghana,” says Isaac Dinwe, who works for Closing the Loop, a Dutch company that works with the electronics industry to increase global recycling. “The e-waste problem in my country is so huge we are unable to manage it. Most of our e-waste ends up in city centres. Informal workers extract what [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“I live in Accra, Ghana,” says Isaac Dinwe, who works for Closing the Loop, a Dutch company that works with the electronics industry to increase global recycling. “The e-waste problem in my country is so huge we are unable to manage it. Most of our e-waste ends up in city centres. Informal workers extract what they can sell and burn the rest. It causes a lot of pollution,” Dinwe writes in an email to Mongabay from the group. Dinwe is one of a handful of Ghanaians tackling a public health and environmental crisis brought on by the global consumer economy and a lack of legislation and infrastructure around the globe. Dinwe heads a team trained to properly handle e-waste and travels to repair shops, villages and churches to buy “dead” phones that would otherwise end up landfilled or burned. “We are careful not to pay too much, as we want the phones to be used right up to the end of their life,” explains Closing the Loop CEO Joost de Kluijver. Isaac Dinwe, a Ghanaian, heads a team of 16 people who buy &#8216;dead&#8217; phones cheaply from repair shops and elsewhere in Accra, Ghana, to prevent them from being tossed into landfills. But, despite the team&#8217;s work, a lot of e-waste ends up in waste dumps where scavengers extract salvageable bits, then burn the rest, causing pollution that threatens public health. Image courtesy of Closing the Loop. Closing the Loop has joined with phone makers and sellers in Europe to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/can-two-amazons-survive-invisible-e-waste-is-poisoning-the-world/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/can-two-amazons-survive-invisible-e-waste-is-poisoning-the-world/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310477</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia pledges energy transition — but the country’s new NDC says otherwise</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/indonesia-pledges-energy-transition-but-the-countrys-new-ndc-says-otherwise/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/indonesia-pledges-energy-transition-but-the-countrys-new-ndc-says-otherwise/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Nov 2025 13:45:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/23070323/GP0STTAMQ_Low-res-800px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308790</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Conservation, Emission Reduction, Environment, Forests, Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Just Transition, Land Rights, Plantations, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Renewable Energy, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has made bold pledges to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2035 and to phase out coal within 15 years, raising hopes that one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters might finally embark on a genuine energy transition — pivotal if the world is to have any chance of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has made bold pledges to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2035 and to phase out coal within 15 years, raising hopes that one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters might finally embark on a genuine energy transition — pivotal if the world is to have any chance of limiting warming to 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit). Yet Indonesia’s newly submitted climate plan tells a different story. Under the Paris Agreement, countries must submit nationally determined contributions (NDCs), updated every five years, outlining their emission-reduction goals and adaptation measures. Indonesia’s latest submission, the second nationally determined contribution (SNDC), suggests that deep climate action is still seen as incompatible with rapid economic growth, according to critics. As a result, the SNDC contains emission-reduction targets that are widely seen as insufficient to meet the 1.5°C goal. The document updates Indonesia’s targets for 2031-35 and replaces the earlier “enhanced NDC” of 2022. Unlike the 2022 document that used a business-as-usual baseline, the new SNDC uses 2019 as its reference year. Officials say this shift improves transparency; environmental analysts say it masks ambition, since absolute emissions continue to rise until at least 2030 and only decline modestly by 2035, reflecting a government model that, according to analysts, still assumes deep emissions cuts will slow economic growth. Under the SNDC’s high-growth scenario (8% annual economic growth), Indonesia’s emissions are projected to be roughly 30% higher in 2035 than 2019 levels. In contrast, a 1.5°C-compatible pathway would require a 21% reduction&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/indonesia-pledges-energy-transition-but-the-countrys-new-ndc-says-otherwise/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308790</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>With red tape, canceled rebates, Indonesia risks missing Chinese renewables investment</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/with-red-tape-canceled-rebates-indonesia-risks-missing-chinese-renewables-investment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/with-red-tape-canceled-rebates-indonesia-risks-missing-chinese-renewables-investment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2025 07:56:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeff Hutton]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/03111034/solar-installation-indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307037</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Clean Energy, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Just Transition, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Solar Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In late June, China’s LONGi Green Energy Technology announced a tie-up with Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina to make solar panels in West Java province. That news came just a week after its rival, Trina Solar, opened a smaller factory in Central Java province. During the first six months of this year, Indonesians [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In late June, China’s LONGi Green Energy Technology announced a tie-up with Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina to make solar panels in West Java province. That news came just a week after its rival, Trina Solar, opened a smaller factory in Central Java province. During the first six months of this year, Indonesians bought nearly as many electric vehicles as they did in all of 2024 — almost all from Chinese brands. As competition among clean energy firms intensifies in China, its biggest EV and renewables companies are making inroads into Indonesia, positioning themselves for the day Southeast Asia weans itself off fossil fuels. One example: Trina’s 1.5 trillion rupiah ($90 million) solar panel factory at Kendal Industrial Park in Central Java. PT Trina Mas Agra Indonesia (TMAI), the company’s joint venture with a local partner, employs 640 workers producing 1 gigawatt (GW) of next-generation solar panels that last longer and perform better in cloudy conditions. TMAI chief financial officer Martha Octavia told Mongabay the factory could triple production if needed. “The important point is that we are fully prepared, both in terms of technology and infrastructure, to scale when the timing is right,” Octavia said in emailed remarks. For now, the company is positioning itself to supply panels for some of the nearly 15 GW of utility-scale solar projects in Indonesia’s pipeline, according to data published in February by Global Energy Monitor. At present, Indonesia has just over 560 megawatts (MW) of solar power feeding the grid&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/with-red-tape-canceled-rebates-indonesia-risks-missing-chinese-renewables-investment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307037</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia prioritizes gas over renewables to meet power demand surge</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-prioritizes-gas-over-renewables-to-meet-power-demand-surge/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-prioritizes-gas-over-renewables-to-meet-power-demand-surge/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2025 17:38:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeff Hutton]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/09170445/chimneys-of-Suralaya-coal-power-plant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305649</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Clean Energy, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Just Transition, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Solar Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In May, Indonesia’s state-owned electricity monopoly, PLN, vowed to increase its complement of natural gas power plants as part of a gambit, it said, to make its power supply cleaner and more reliable. The plan was part of a 10-year supply blueprint that also expanded use of all other sources of energy that it had [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In May, Indonesia’s state-owned electricity monopoly, PLN, vowed to increase its complement of natural gas power plants as part of a gambit, it said, to make its power supply cleaner and more reliable. The plan was part of a 10-year supply blueprint that also expanded use of all other sources of energy that it had previously used, as well as some new ones, including nuclear energy, to meet rising demand while transitioning away from dirtier coal plants and scaling up renewables. But gas was by far the energy source that would see the biggest gain initially: 9.3 gigawatts. If all the new gas generators ran at full capacity — albeit a rarity — that sort of juice would theoretically be enough to power half of Indonesia’s more than 70 million households. Cleaner-burning than coal and quicker to power up when needed, gas will lead PLN’s effort, at least in the short term, to address a rapid deterioration in the utility’s ability to meet spikes in demand from parts of its network, according to the 10-year plan, known as the RUPTL. But natural gas is still a fossil fuel, and by emphasizing it over renewables, PLN risks locking itself into an expensive source of energy at a time when most of the country’s gas-powered generating capacity is going unused. PLN may need to count on subsidies to keep electricity affordable. Coal would also see a large gain during the first year of the 10-year plan — 3.2 gigawatts — before tailing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-prioritizes-gas-over-renewables-to-meet-power-demand-surge/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305649</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Air quality study of East Java waste-to-energy plant sparks dispute, health warnings</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/air-quality-study-of-east-java-waste-to-energy-plant-sparks-dispute-health-warnings/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/air-quality-study-of-east-java-waste-to-energy-plant-sparks-dispute-health-warnings/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Aug 2025 03:31:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Petrus Riski]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/14103558/PLTSa-Benowo-Proyek-Berisiko-WALHI-Jatim-Tagih-Keterbukaan-Pemkot-Surabaya-EPOCHSTREAM-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304282</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Java, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Conservation, Development, Emission Reduction, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Environment, Environmental Law, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Industry, Politics, Pollution, Recycling, Renewable Energy, and Waste]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A 54-day monitoring by Indonesia’s largest environmental group around a waste-to-energy plant in East Java revealed frequent air quality levels breaching World Health Organization safety limits, raising concerns for public health. Indonesian NGO Walhi has recently published its findings from stationary and mobile monitoring of the air quality at five locations in the vicinity of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A 54-day monitoring by Indonesia’s largest environmental group around a waste-to-energy plant in East Java revealed frequent air quality levels breaching World Health Organization safety limits, raising concerns for public health. Indonesian NGO Walhi has recently published its findings from stationary and mobile monitoring of the air quality at five locations in the vicinity of the Benowo waste-to-energy plant in Surabaya city between November 2024 and January 2025. The results show exceeding safety levels of PM2.5 and PM10, which are tiny air pollution particles about the size of dust or smoke, which can slip into the lungs, with the former being so small it can enter the bloodstream and affect the whole body. “The most dramatic spikes occurred between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., when the incinerator was running,” said Wahyu Eka Setyawan, the executive director of Walhi East Java. The Benowo waste-to-energy plant in Surabaya turns trash into electricity. Image by Petrus Riski/Mongabay-Indonesia. Inaugurated by former President Joko Widodo on May 6, 2021, the Benowo plant is Indonesia’s first and largest, processing 1,000 tons of waste daily to generate 12 MW of electricity. The facility houses two power plants: a 1.65 MW sanitary landfill system operating since Nov. 30, 2015, and a 9 MW gasification system that began running on March 10, 2021. Using data from AirBeam3 air quality monitor devices, Walhi found that the average PM2.5 concentration across all stations was 26.78 µg/m³, with the highest recorded level reaching 78 µg/m³. Meanwhile, at some stations, PM10 concentrations exceeded&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/air-quality-study-of-east-java-waste-to-energy-plant-sparks-dispute-health-warnings/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304282</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian civil society urges probe after payout for mine recovery that never happened</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-civil-society-urges-probe-after-payout-for-mine-recovery-that-never-happened/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-civil-society-urges-probe-after-payout-for-mine-recovery-that-never-happened/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2025 07:44:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Muhibar Sobary Ardan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/10071442/Rukka-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302173</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Just Transition, Politics, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SAMARINDA, Indonesia — The prosecution of a former head of mining in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province could reveal wider misuse of environmental restoration funds across the country’s coal heartland, a prominent environmental lawyer said in June. “I see that there’s the potential for there to be others, so I recommend that law enforcement officers audit [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SAMARINDA, Indonesia — The prosecution of a former head of mining in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province could reveal wider misuse of environmental restoration funds across the country’s coal heartland, a prominent environmental lawyer said in June. “I see that there’s the potential for there to be others, so I recommend that law enforcement officers audit all these mining pits,” said Muhammad Muhdar, an environmental lawyer at Mulawarman University in Samarinda, the provincial capital. Last month, the East Kalimantan prosecutor’s office announced it would charge Amrullah, the head of the provincial mining agency, in connection with an alleged decade-old conspiracy pertaining to coal miner CV Arjuna. Located in the east of Borneo Island, East Kalimantan accounts for more coal production than any other province in Indonesia, the world’s largest exporter of thermal coal. Coal production across Indonesia increased to 831 million metric tons in 2024, an all-time high. Amrullah had served as head of the energy and minerals department in East Kalimantan from 2010-2018. Arjuna operated a 1,452-hectare (3,588-acre) coal mine in Makroman village, within the Samarinda city limits, on the east coast of Borneo. The company was required by law to conduct environmental reclamation work to seal the mine on reaching the end of its operating permit. “To my knowledge, this is probably the first case where someone has been charged in relation to corruption of reclamation funds in East Kalimantan,” Muhdar said. “So it would be good for us to jointly monitor the process in order to assist our&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-civil-society-urges-probe-after-payout-for-mine-recovery-that-never-happened/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302173</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian utility PLN ‘kneecaps renewables’ with embrace of fossil fuels</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesian-utility-pln-kneecaps-renewables-with-embrace-of-fossil-fuels/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesian-utility-pln-kneecaps-renewables-with-embrace-of-fossil-fuels/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2025 03:57:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeff Hutton]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/17015622/indonesia-coal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300836</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Clean Energy, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Just Transition, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Solar Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia’s state-owned power utility has backed away from promises to rapidly expand its use of renewable energy, opting to focus instead on building more power stations that burn fossil fuels. The country’s electricity monopoly, PLN, will expand by more than one-fifth how much electricity it generates from gas and coal by the middle of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia’s state-owned power utility has backed away from promises to rapidly expand its use of renewable energy, opting to focus instead on building more power stations that burn fossil fuels. The country’s electricity monopoly, PLN, will expand by more than one-fifth how much electricity it generates from gas and coal by the middle of the next decade, according to the company’s Ten-Year Supply Development Plan (RUPTL). While PLN also intends to triple how much electricity it gets from renewable sources, most of the expansion in green energy will need to wait until the early 2030s as the utility struggles to first meet soaring demand for electricity. Indonesia’s grid is, for now, unable to accommodate on-again-off-again renewable energy, the company has said. The question for PLN is “how can renewables, which are indeed variable, and fossil fuel-based power plants be sewn together?” Darmawan Prasodjo, PLN’s president director, told a parliamentary commission last month ahead of the release of the supply blueprint. PLN unveiled a slide presentation of its RUPTL late last month, foreshadowing a massive buildout of solar and other renewable energy over the next 10 years. The biggest initial focus, though, will be new gas- and coal-fired power plants between now and 2029. Renewables will comprise a slightly smaller share of the planned expansion until the end of this decade. But on June 3, the utility published the full version of its 1,200-plus-page electricity supply blueprint which underscored doubts for some analysts that PLN would countenance the country’s shift to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesian-utility-pln-kneecaps-renewables-with-embrace-of-fossil-fuels/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300836</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Riding toward a greener future: E-bikes transform food delivery in South Africa</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/riding-toward-a-greener-future-e-bikes-transform-food-delivery-in-south-africa/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/riding-toward-a-greener-future-e-bikes-transform-food-delivery-in-south-africa/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jun 2025 12:33:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Barry Christianson]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/07104311/GreenRiderSiphiweMlawuli_CapeTownSouthAfrica_BarryChristianson-SIZE-e1749474183325-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300373</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Batteries, Carbon Emissions, Cities, Economics, Emission Reduction, Environment, Green, Renewable Energy, and Transportation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CAPE TOWN — Siphe Mlawuli stands next to her e-bike outside a popular fast-food outlet in Table Bay, a Cape Town suburb. The sun has just set, giving the sky above Table Bay a pinkish hue. The fast-food outlet’s parking lot is crowded with vehicles belonging to food couriers. Mlawuli’s phone screen lights up. She [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CAPE TOWN — Siphe Mlawuli stands next to her e-bike outside a popular fast-food outlet in Table Bay, a Cape Town suburb. The sun has just set, giving the sky above Table Bay a pinkish hue. The fast-food outlet’s parking lot is crowded with vehicles belonging to food couriers. Mlawuli’s phone screen lights up. She takes an insulated bag and goes inside to collect an order. A minute later she returns, carefully settles the order in the branded box bolted to the back of her e-bike box and sets off. The heavy cargo bike moves effortlessly into the gathering dusk over the maze of suburban Parklands, the only sound a hum from its wide tires on the tarmac. Home deliveries in South Africa have surged in recent years. Delivery of food and groceries are overwhelmingly done using motorcycles, but Mlawuli’s black e-bike signals a possible change. She is one of about 600 food-delivery couriers on Cape Town’s roads who rent e-bikes from a company called Green Riders. Siphe’s journey Mlawuli left her home in Elliot, a small town in the Eastern Cape, in 2018 with hopes of finding work in Cape Town. She lives in Dunoon, a township about 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) from Parklands. Since its establishment in 1996, two years after the formal end of apartheid, the area has grown into a dense cluster of informal dwellings. A report by the City of Cape Town says Dunoon and other settlements like it are a response to the “dire&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/riding-toward-a-greener-future-e-bikes-transform-food-delivery-in-south-africa/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300373</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil bets on macaúba palm to make renewable diesel and aviation biofuel</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/brazil-bets-on-macauba-palm-to-make-renewable-diesel-and-aviation-biofuel/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/brazil-bets-on-macauba-palm-to-make-renewable-diesel-and-aviation-biofuel/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 May 2025 17:23:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/21140601/macauba-palm-fruits-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299415</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Alternative Energy, Biodiesel, Bioenergy, Biofuels, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Degraded Lands, Drivers Of Deforestation, Emission Reduction, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Environment, Environmental Policy, Governance, Land Use Change, Palm Oil, Plantations, Politics, Pollution, Research, Soy, Transportation, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Macaúba palm, also known as macaw palm, grows all over the Americas. Now, a drive by the Brazilian government to incentivize the decarbonization of the transportation and aviation sectors has resulted in numerous companies turning to this palm as a potential feedstock to be refined into liquid biofuels and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) across the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Macaúba palm, also known as macaw palm, grows all over the Americas. Now, a drive by the Brazilian government to incentivize the decarbonization of the transportation and aviation sectors has resulted in numerous companies turning to this palm as a potential feedstock to be refined into liquid biofuels and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) across the Latin American nation. On paper, macaúba palm appears to be a miracle plant: It thrives on degraded, unproductive land, so won’t compete with food crops or cause new deforestation, and, in testing, it has yields eight to ten times higher than soy, depending on whom you ask. Soybeans already feed Brazil’s vast biofuels industry but, along with sugarcane, soy is tied to environmental harm, especially deforestation and CO2 emissions, and environmental justice issues. According to proponents, macaúba promises to sidestep these issues; it’s already dubbed as “green gold” and “rainforest-friendly palm oil.” But there are significant environmental and financial risk too, say critics. Macaúba’s promotion closely parallels past hype from investors and entrepreneurs who backed a would-be biofuel called jatropha, so offers a cautionary tale. In the 2000s, jatropha — also hailed as “green gold” — ticked many of the same boxes and its boom saw dozens of projects planting the energy crop across the tropics, only to then fail spectacularly, as it proved far more challenging to grow than claimed. The effort cost millions of dollars, and spawned widespread accusations of land grabbing, while resulting in land-use change and biodiversity loss in tropical countries.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/brazil-bets-on-macauba-palm-to-make-renewable-diesel-and-aviation-biofuel/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/brazil-bets-on-macauba-palm-to-make-renewable-diesel-and-aviation-biofuel/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299415</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Flawed energy road map may block Indonesia’s coal exit, critics warn</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/flawed-energy-road-map-may-block-indonesias-coal-exit-critics-warn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/flawed-energy-road-map-may-block-indonesias-coal-exit-critics-warn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2025 10:28:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/23070323/GP0STTAMQ_Low-res-800px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299052</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Just Transition, Politics, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s first road map for its energy transition, focusing on phasing out coal, is riddled with loopholes that will make it difficult for the country to retire its massive fleet of coal-fired power plants, critics say. The road map uses a weighted scoring system to determine which power plants should be prioritized for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s first road map for its energy transition, focusing on phasing out coal, is riddled with loopholes that will make it difficult for the country to retire its massive fleet of coal-fired power plants, critics say. The road map uses a weighted scoring system to determine which power plants should be prioritized for closure or early retirement. But the system gives too much weight to criteria like how much funding has been secured to shutter a plant (27% of the total score) and not enough to factors like emissions (just 9.3% of the score), even though cutting emissions is the primary goal. This approach means that only the lowest-risk plants — those with available donor funding and minimal grid impact — are likely to be retired first, regardless of their carbon emissions, said Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara, director of the Centre for Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS), a Jakarta-based think tank. “This scoring system would fail most [coal plants from being retired early],” Bhima told reporters in Jakarta. “This road map actually blocks early retirement of coal plants.” The system also overlooks the potential cost savings from retiring old, inefficient, and heavily polluting plants, Bhima added. “If closing a coal plant saves money … shouldn’t that reduce the financial burden?” he asked, questioning the government’s reliance on external funding to shut down aging plants. “If we rely on external funds, given today’s global finance conditions, it’ll be tough,” he said. Even if the funds are available, other criteria, like&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/flawed-energy-road-map-may-block-indonesias-coal-exit-critics-warn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/flawed-energy-road-map-may-block-indonesias-coal-exit-critics-warn/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299052</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As renewable diesel surges, sustainability claims are deeply questioned</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/as-renewable-diesel-surges-sustainability-claims-are-deeply-questioned/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/as-renewable-diesel-surges-sustainability-claims-are-deeply-questioned/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 May 2025 14:02:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/12093102/Image_6-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298931</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Circular economy and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, European Union, Global, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Biofuels, Business, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Emission Reduction, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Oil, Politics, Pollution, Renewable Energy, Research, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Renewable diesel is a biofuel made from vegetable oils and animal fats touted by proponents as an almost miraculous “drop-in” transition fuel able to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions while easily replacing fossil diesel in all manner of engines. But this biofuel’s recent sudden surge in production and rapid expansion in applications is alarming environmentalists, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Renewable diesel is a biofuel made from vegetable oils and animal fats touted by proponents as an almost miraculous “drop-in” transition fuel able to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions while easily replacing fossil diesel in all manner of engines. But this biofuel’s recent sudden surge in production and rapid expansion in applications is alarming environmentalists, who warn unfettered growth could fuel climate change and tropical deforestation. Renewable diesel, or RD, can be made from a wide range of feedstocks, including waste vegetable oils, animal tallow, corn, canola (rapeseed), soy and oil palm. The feedstock used, where and how it is produced, and whether forests are felled to make way for biofuel crops, all determine RD’s carbon emissions as compared to fossil diesel. RD is often manufactured in retooled fossil fuel refineries using complex biochemical and thermochemical technologies requiring lots of energy — adding to its carbon footprint. Chevron, BP, Shell and other major fossil fuel companies are now converting excess refinery capacity to make RD and enter the market in a big way. A freight train in the U.K. run on renewable diesel. Replacing red diesel (fossil diesel specifically earmarked for rail or agricultural vehicles) with RD can cut a train’s emissions by “as much as 90%,” according to the industry. But such claims can be erroneous since some feedstocks have high carbon intensity (such as oil palm) over others (like used cooking oil). Image by Rob Reedman via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). A big selling point for renewable diesel&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/as-renewable-diesel-surges-sustainability-claims-are-deeply-questioned/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/as-renewable-diesel-surges-sustainability-claims-are-deeply-questioned/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298931</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Science lays out framework to assess climate liability of fossil fuel majors</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/science-lays-out-framework-to-assess-climate-liability-of-fossil-fuel-majors/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/science-lays-out-framework-to-assess-climate-liability-of-fossil-fuel-majors/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 May 2025 06:12:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/09034706/johannes-plenio-jfXMQ6MZlR4-unsplash-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298750</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Air Pollution, Business, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Environment, Environmental Law, Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Heatwave, Law, Natural Gas, Oil, Oil Drilling, Politics, Pollution, Social Justice, and Temperatures]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As billion-dollar climate disasters pile up, and world leaders fail to act against global warming, lawsuits on behalf of impacted states, cities and other government entities have increased in number with the intent of holding the fossil fuel industry accountable for its contribution to climate change-caused economic damages. But directly linking specific companies and their [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As billion-dollar climate disasters pile up, and world leaders fail to act against global warming, lawsuits on behalf of impacted states, cities and other government entities have increased in number with the intent of holding the fossil fuel industry accountable for its contribution to climate change-caused economic damages. But directly linking specific companies and their emissions to the financial harm done by actual climate change-intensified extreme weather events has remained a stumbling block. Now, a new study published in Nature offers a framework to potentially strengthen such legal arguments by enabling plaintiffs to calculate contributions made by individual companies to rising temperatures, tying their emissions directly to extreme-heat disasters. “Advances in climate economics over the last 10 years have told us quite a bit about the way that local climate hazards translate into damage for people [and places],” said study co-author Christopher Callahan, a postdoctoral scholar in earth system science at Stanford University. “But putting these pieces together in a single causal chain is the novel contribution here,” helping to create linkages that can strengthen pending and future cases. Policymakers and litigators may know these climate data exist, Callahan told Mongabay, but they may not know how they can bring all this evidence together in a way that more clearly illustrates causation and thus legal liability by major greenhouse gas polluters. “Causal linkages from emitters to impact have been termed the Holy Grail of climate litigation,” the study states. Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/science-lays-out-framework-to-assess-climate-liability-of-fossil-fuel-majors/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/science-lays-out-framework-to-assess-climate-liability-of-fossil-fuel-majors/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298750</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s gas bet poses risks for economy, health and climate</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/indonesias-gas-bet-poses-risks-for-economy-health-and-climate/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/indonesias-gas-bet-poses-risks-for-economy-health-and-climate/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 May 2025 09:55:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/08094352/image_1719806931458-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298786</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Alternative Energy, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Clean Energy, Climate, Climate Change, climate finance, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Methane, Natural Gas, Pollution, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Experts have lambasted Indonesia’s heavy push toward natural gas, saying it risks locking the country into fossil fuel dependency under the guise of clean energy, dealing immense damage to the economy, public health and the environment. In a new report, Jakarta-based think tank the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS) and Greenpeace [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Experts have lambasted Indonesia’s heavy push toward natural gas, saying it risks locking the country into fossil fuel dependency under the guise of clean energy, dealing immense damage to the economy, public health and the environment. In a new report, Jakarta-based think tank the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS) and Greenpeace Indonesia identified significant downsides to this reliance, which has already seen a quarter of the national grid, or 26 gigawatts, powered by gas. The government recently unveiled a plan to build another 22 GW of gas power capacity by 2040. But even if only the announced projects from that new fleet, amounting to 2.6 GW, come online, that will still translate into additional annual emissions of 5.97 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and 5,332 metric tons of methane, according to the report. The full 22 GW gas expansion would raise this to 49 million metric tons of CO₂ and nearly 44,000 metric tons of methane annually, it says, making the embrace of gas incompatible with Indonesia’s climate goals. “Compared to renewable energy, which can contribute to reducing carbon emissions by 30-40%, fossil gas power plants can instead hinder progress toward achieving net zero emissions,” the report says. It adds that classifying gas as a “transition fuel” is “highly misleading, as it distracts from the immediate focus on adopting renewable energy that aligns with the Paris climate commitments.” The government has touted gas as a clean energy source that can bridge the transition from coal,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/indonesias-gas-bet-poses-risks-for-economy-health-and-climate/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/indonesias-gas-bet-poses-risks-for-economy-health-and-climate/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298786</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Political appointments in Indonesian climate program spark outcry over accountability</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/political-appointments-in-indonesian-climate-program-spark-outcry-over-accountability/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/political-appointments-in-indonesian-climate-program-spark-outcry-over-accountability/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Mar 2025 08:59:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/28154349/fire-in-indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=295969</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Norway, Southeast Asia, and United Kingdom]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Avoided Deforestation, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, climate finance, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Emission Reduction, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Funding, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Peatlands, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Norwegian government is monitoring growing concerns over Indonesia’s decision to appoint political figures with little climate expertise to oversee a climate forestry program largely financed by Norway. Indonesian Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni has come under scrutiny recently for naming several fellow members from his political party, the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Norwegian government is monitoring growing concerns over Indonesia’s decision to appoint political figures with little climate expertise to oversee a climate forestry program largely financed by Norway. Indonesian Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni has come under scrutiny recently for naming several fellow members from his political party, the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), to key positions within the office responsible for the FOLU Net Sink 2030 initiative. This aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Indonesia’s forestry and other land use (FOLU) sector by curbing deforestation, preventing forest fires, and increasing reforestation efforts. The ultimate goal is for Indonesia’s forests to absorb more carbon than they release by 2030, a part of the country’s climate commitments under the Paris Agreement. To coordinate, monitor and evaluate the program, the government established an operation management office (OMO). However, in a Jan. 31 decree, Forestry Minister Raja restructured the OMO by appointing PSI cadres to the office, raising concerns over political favoritism. Raja is one of the founders of the PSI and currently serves as its secretary-general, the party’s No. 2. The appointments have also drawn criticism due to the OMO’s relatively high monthly salaries, ranging from 8 million rupiah at the lowest level to 50 million rupiah for leadership positions ($500-$3,000). Critics say these salaries are excessive for a government-backed environmental initiative, particularly at a time when the government is cutting the budget for several agencies, including those related to the environment. Raja has defended the appointments, saying the OMO&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/political-appointments-in-indonesian-climate-program-spark-outcry-over-accountability/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/political-appointments-in-indonesian-climate-program-spark-outcry-over-accountability/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-295969</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bangladeshi researchers pin hopes on irrigation method with real-time methane monitoring</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/bangladeshi-researchers-pin-hopes-on-irrigation-method-with-real-time-methane-monitoring/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/bangladeshi-researchers-pin-hopes-on-irrigation-method-with-real-time-methane-monitoring/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Feb 2025 08:08:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sadiqur Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/19164136/banner-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294699</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and Bangladesh]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Emission Reduction, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Methane, Research, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When Bloomberg published a report on Apr. 8, 2021, identifying Bangladesh as the 12th largest methane emitter globally, attributing a significant share to rice cultivation, the country’s rice researchers were concerned. Equipped with only secondary and manually collected data, they challenged the “exaggerated” claim, arguing that methane emission from Bangladesh’s rice production was relatively small [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When Bloomberg published a report on Apr. 8, 2021, identifying Bangladesh as the 12th largest methane emitter globally, attributing a significant share to rice cultivation, the country’s rice researchers were concerned. Equipped with only secondary and manually collected data, they challenged the “exaggerated” claim, arguing that methane emission from Bangladesh’s rice production was relatively small compared to its neighbors India and China — the major emitters. Bloomberg’s publishing of another report two weeks later, claiming that a leaking municipal solid waste landfill contributed to the mysterious methane plumes, got the researchers at Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) looking forward to using advanced technology to get concrete and real-time emission measurement data to counter these assessments. In 2024, BRRI researchers introduced Bangladesh’s first GHG emission monitoring laboratory at its regional office in Barishal district’s Sagardi area. Image by Sadiqur Rahman. On Sept. 4, 2024, BRRI researchers introduced Bangladesh’s first greenhouse gas (GHG) emission monitoring laboratory at its regional office in Barisal district’s Sagardi area with the support of development partners. This new installation also aims to support research on the emission-cutting Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) method that the BRRI researchers have been piloting in Bangladesh’s rice fields for several years. AWD is an irrigation method that reduces water use in rice fields without disturbing the plant&#8217;s growth, germination and other processes to mature the rice. “Given the real-time GHG emission measurement facilities, we would not only analyze the impacts of AWD but also claim carbon credits someday,” BRRI’s director general&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/bangladeshi-researchers-pin-hopes-on-irrigation-method-with-real-time-methane-monitoring/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294699</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Protecting peatlands and mangroves could halve Southeast Asia’s land-use emissions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/protecting-peatlands-and-mangroves-could-halve-southeast-asias-land-use-emissions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/protecting-peatlands-and-mangroves-could-halve-southeast-asias-land-use-emissions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Feb 2025 11:48:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/12/06135320/peats-indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294600</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Ecosystems, Emission Reduction, Fires, Forests, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Landscape Restoration, Mangroves, Nature-based climate solutions, Peatlands, Reforestation, Restoration, Solutions, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA —  Southeast Asia’s peatlands and mangroves store immense amounts of carbon, yet they’re rapidly disappearing. A new study finds that conserving and restoring these ecosystems could cut the region’s greenhouse gas emissions from land use in half — equivalent to 16% of the world’s total land-use emissions. An international team of scientists from the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA —  Southeast Asia’s peatlands and mangroves store immense amounts of carbon, yet they’re rapidly disappearing. A new study finds that conserving and restoring these ecosystems could cut the region’s greenhouse gas emissions from land use in half — equivalent to 16% of the world’s total land-use emissions. An international team of scientists from the National University of Singapore (NUS), with contributions from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore and James Cook University in Australia, assessed the potential for emissions reductions through conserving and restoring peat swamp forests and mangroves across Southeast Asia. Their study, published in Nature Communications, concluded that despite occupying only 5% of the region’s land area, these ecosystems hold immense potential for climate mitigation. According to the study, restoring currently degraded peat swamp forests and mangroves in Southeast Asia could reduce 94 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e) annually. Combined with conservation, as much as 770 MtCO2e could be mitigated each year, representing nearly half of the region’s land-use emissions. The study estimated that there are 5.34 million hectares (13.4 million acres) of drained peatlands in Southeast Asia, an area larger than Costa Rica, and that rewetting them offers the largest emissions reduction potential. Restoring degraded peat swamp forests, of which there are 2.64 million hectares (6.52 million acres) in the region, and mangroves (0.07 million hectares, or about 170,000 acres) could further enhance carbon sequestration, the study found. “These ecosystems pack a climate mitigation punch far beyond their size, offering one of the most scalable&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/protecting-peatlands-and-mangroves-could-halve-southeast-asias-land-use-emissions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294600</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia mulls Paris Agreement exit, citing fairness and energy transition costs</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/indonesia-mulls-paris-agreement-exit-citing-fairness-and-energy-transition-costs/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/indonesia-mulls-paris-agreement-exit-citing-fairness-and-energy-transition-costs/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Feb 2025 11:39:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/16121230/Captive-coal-close-to-public-school-in-IMIP-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293855</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, climate finance, Climate Justice, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Fossils, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Just Transition, Politics, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia, one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters, has signaled it might follow in the footsteps of the U.S. and withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. “If the United State [the second-biggest emitter after China] does not want to comply with the international agreement, why should a country like Indonesia comply with [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia, one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters, has signaled it might follow in the footsteps of the U.S. and withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. “If the United State [the second-biggest emitter after China] does not want to comply with the international agreement, why should a country like Indonesia comply with it?” Hashim Djojohadikusumo, Indonesia’s special envoy for climate change and energy, said at a sustainability forum in Jakarta on Jan. 31. He pointed to the stark disparity in per capita carbon emissions, with the U.S. emitting approximately 13 metric tons of carbon per person annually, while the average Indonesian emits about 3 metric tons. “[Y]et we are the ones being told to close our power plants and reduce our [coal-fired] power plants. So, where is the sense of justice here?” said Hashim, who is also the younger brother of President Prabowo Subianto. The remarks from the country’s climate envoy have triggered strong backlash from environmental groups, who call the stance legally irresponsible, economically short-sighted, and environmentally disastrous. While Indonesia hasn’t officially stated any plans to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement, a growing number of top officials have questioned the fairness of Indonesia’s commitment to reducing emissions when a major polluter like the U.S. has opted out. Bahlil Lahadalia, the minister of energy and mines, said the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement could lead to a decrease in financial support for renewable energy projects. That will make it difficult for Indonesia to remain committed to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/indonesia-mulls-paris-agreement-exit-citing-fairness-and-energy-transition-costs/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/indonesia-mulls-paris-agreement-exit-citing-fairness-and-energy-transition-costs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293855</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Renewables won’t save us from climate catastrophe, experts warn; what will?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/renewables-wont-save-us-from-climate-catastrophe-experts-warn-what-will/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/renewables-wont-save-us-from-climate-catastrophe-experts-warn-what-will/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Dec 2024 21:23:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerry McGovernSue Branford]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/17165845/solar-panels-installation-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291827</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[China and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Clean Energy, Conservation, Electric Cars, Emission Reduction, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Global Environmental Crisis, Planetary Boundaries, Renewable Energy, Solar Power, Subsidies, and Wind Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2022, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres declared that the “lifeline of renewable energy can steer [the] world out of climate crisis.” In saying so, he echoed a popular and tantalizing idea: that, if we hurry, we can erase the climate emergency with widespread adoption of renewables in the form of solar panels, wind farms, electric [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2022, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres declared that the “lifeline of renewable energy can steer [the] world out of climate crisis.” In saying so, he echoed a popular and tantalizing idea: that, if we hurry, we can erase the climate emergency with widespread adoption of renewables in the form of solar panels, wind farms, electric vehicles and more. But things aren’t that simple, and analysts increasingly question the naïve assumption that renewables are a silver bullet. That’s partly because the rapid transition to a global energy and transport system powered by clean energy brings with it a host of new (and old) environmental problems. To begin with, stepping up solar, wind and EV production requires many more minerals and materials in the short term than do their already well-established fossil fuel counterparts, while also creating a major carbon footprint. Also, the quicker we transition away from fossil fuel tech to renewable tech, the greater the quantity of materials needed up front, and the higher the immediate carbon and numerous other environmental costs. But this shift is now happening extremely rapidly, as companies, governments and consumers try to turn away from oil, coal and natural gas. “Renewables are moving faster than national governments can set targets,” declared International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol. In its “Renewables 2024” report, the IEA estimates the world will add more than 5,500 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity between 2024 and 2030 — almost three times the increase between 2017 and 2023. But this triumph&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/renewables-wont-save-us-from-climate-catastrophe-experts-warn-what-will/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/renewables-wont-save-us-from-climate-catastrophe-experts-warn-what-will/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291827</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Direct air capture climate solution faces harsh criticism, steep challenges</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/direct-air-capture-climate-solution-faces-harsh-criticism-steep-challenges/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/direct-air-capture-climate-solution-faces-harsh-criticism-steep-challenges/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Dec 2024 15:27:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/13103931/3-A-Climeworks-employee-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291570</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Emission Reduction, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Geoengineering, Global Warming, Industry, Mitigation, Nature-based climate solutions, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Pulling carbon dioxide directly from the air with giant vacuum-like devices is an enticing solution to the climate crisis, with governments and industry funneling billions of dollars into direct air capture (DAC) technology. But this would-be heavy-industry geoengineering solution remains mired in controversy as it faces real-world questions of cost, scale and viability. At its [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Pulling carbon dioxide directly from the air with giant vacuum-like devices is an enticing solution to the climate crisis, with governments and industry funneling billions of dollars into direct air capture (DAC) technology. But this would-be heavy-industry geoengineering solution remains mired in controversy as it faces real-world questions of cost, scale and viability. At its most basic, direct air capture works by passing vast quantities of air through a series of filters and membranes to trap atmospheric carbon dioxide. DAC differs from other carbon capture approaches that aim to trap CO2 directly at the source. Once captured, CO2 can be funneled into the earth, stored in geological formations for hundreds or thousands of years, or used by other industries to produce products ranging from plastics to hydrogen to synthetic aviation fuels. DAC is just one of many carbon dioxide removal techniques (including technological and nature-based solutions) that many experts say may be needed by countries desperate to achieve their carbon reduction targets under the Paris climate agreement. Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) may also be needed to mitigate the worst impacts of global warming, as the world continues releasing record carbon emissions skyward. Proponents argue that DAC can help achieve these climate goals, especially tackling emissions from hard-to-abate industries, and they underline its potential to remove CO2 at industrial scales, possibly even capturing billions of tons each year. “The reason why direct air capture is such a unique and important part of the carbon removal portfolio is because it gives extremely&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/direct-air-capture-climate-solution-faces-harsh-criticism-steep-challenges/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/direct-air-capture-climate-solution-faces-harsh-criticism-steep-challenges/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291570</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Recycling gold can tackle illegal mining in the Amazon, but is no silver bullet</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/recycling-gold-can-tackle-illegal-mining-in-the-amazon-but-is-no-silver-bullet/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/recycling-gold-can-tackle-illegal-mining-in-the-amazon-but-is-no-silver-bullet/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Dec 2024 09:00:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sarah Brown]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/12112252/Typical-ASGM-768x512-1.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=291509</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Emission Reduction, Environment, Gold Mining, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Rights, Mining, Politics, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Recycling, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researchers suggest that recycling gold could dramatically reduce harmful emissions, along with other solutions such as formalizing mining, adopting clean technologies, and improving gold supply chain transparency.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Decades of artisanal and small-scale gold mining in the Tapajós River Basin have left a heavy environmental legacy in the Brazilian Amazon: rivers contaminated with mercury, and high greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers are now proposing recycling gold as a sustainable alternative, one that could dramatically reduce these impacts and outperform even &#8220;green&#8221; gold mining, which focuses on more sustainable extraction methods. The findings, presented at a sustainability conference in Japan in November, show that recycling used gold, particularly from high-value end-of-life sources like old jewelry, has the lowest environmental footprint, emitting as little as 22-50 kilograms of CO2 per kilogram of gold produced, according to data the researchers published in the journal Nature Sustainability in 2024. In comparison, artisanal and small-scale mining (ASGM) in the Tapajós River Basin generates approximately 16 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per kilogram of gold, but still less than the 21 metric tons produced by industrial operations. “The carbon footprint is a fundamental problem in gold mining, both ASM and industrial mining,” study co-author Mario Schmidt, a professor of environmental management at Pforzheim University in Germany, told Mongabay. “Here, the only solution is recycling, although care must be taken to ensure that primary gold is not illegally mixed with recycled gold.” Despite the carbon efficiency of recycling “scrap” gold, the relentless demand for newly mined gold persists, driven by economic and fashion pressures as well as cultural notions linking gold and wealth. Even small-scale gold mining releases large carbon emissions, up to 16,000 kilograms of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/recycling-gold-can-tackle-illegal-mining-in-the-amazon-but-is-no-silver-bullet/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-291509</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Atmospheric methane removal: A promising but challenging climate solution</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/atmospheric-methane-removal-a-promising-but-challenging-climate-solution/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/atmospheric-methane-removal-a-promising-but-challenging-climate-solution/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Nov 2024 17:20:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/06150102/2-cows-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=289723</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Emission Reduction, Environment, Geoengineering, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Methane, Mitigation, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A variety of geoengineering technologies are being closely studied to rapidly remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But researchers are also now considering removing another powerful greenhouse gas: atmospheric methane, or CH4. But no viable technology exists yet to do so at scale. Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas, roughly 80 times more powerful [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A variety of geoengineering technologies are being closely studied to rapidly remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But researchers are also now considering removing another powerful greenhouse gas: atmospheric methane, or CH4. But no viable technology exists yet to do so at scale. Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas, roughly 80 times more powerful than CO2 in its ability to heat up the Earth. It is currently responsible for about a third of annual warming, and for the past five years, civilization has released alarmingly record amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Today, at least two-thirds of yearly methane emissions come from human activities, including livestock, agriculture, fossil fuels, landfills and other waste — while climate feedbacks add to that total via releases from global wetlands and Arctic permafrost. Researchers emphasize that the quickest fix is to slash human-caused emissions. But some scientists are considering another approach: Methane is short-lived in the atmosphere, with CH4 molecules breaking down in seven to 12 years, against the 100 or more years it takes CO2 to break down. So scientists are investigating geoengineering technologies that might expedite this methane breakdown and help achieve a cooler world. “Currently, anthropogenic methane emissions are adding about half a degree Celsius [0.9° Fahrenheit] to warming,” says climate scientist Gabrielle Dreyfus from the U.S.-based Institute For Governance &amp; Sustainable Development. “In theory, combining mitigation measures to reduce [methane] emissions with removal could potentially [eliminate] that warming.” To that end, the U.S. National Academies of Science in a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/atmospheric-methane-removal-a-promising-but-challenging-climate-solution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-289723</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ever-smarter consumer electronics push world toward environmental brink</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/ever-smarter-consumer-electronics-push-world-toward-environmental-brink/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/ever-smarter-consumer-electronics-push-world-toward-environmental-brink/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Sep 2024 15:15:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerry McGovernSue Branford]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/09/24083313/Agbogbloshie-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=287749</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Circular economy and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Costa Rica, Global, and Taiwan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Footprint, charcoal, Climate Change, Coal, Consumption, E-waste, Emission Reduction, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Environment, Environmental Policy, Fossil Fuels, Global Environmental Crisis, Industry, Mining, Overconsumption, Pollution, Recycling, Research, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In recent decades, the electronics industry experienced meteoric growth as it swiftly invented and marketed a galaxy of novel products for consumers hungry for the next innovation, better performance and greater convenience. In 2024, the consumer electronics market alone is expected to top $809 billion, exceeding $1.4 trillion by 2034. But there’s a dark side [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In recent decades, the electronics industry experienced meteoric growth as it swiftly invented and marketed a galaxy of novel products for consumers hungry for the next innovation, better performance and greater convenience. In 2024, the consumer electronics market alone is expected to top $809 billion, exceeding $1.4 trillion by 2034. But there’s a dark side to this tech miracle: Our digital age love affair with ever-more-powerful cell phones, smart TVs, laptops, tablets, gaming consoles and other devices comes with a high price. The environmental and social costs of producing the trillions of silicon semiconductor chips needed to run our gadgets and to operate remote data centers is escalating incredibly fast and “fostering an environmental time bomb,” warns Ian Williams, professor of applied environmental science at the University of Southampton, U.K. “The environmental impact of making semiconductor chips is already huge and increasing rapidly,” Williams tells Mongabay. Today, the complex integrated circuitry inside an electronic device is a miracle of miniaturization and nanometer-accurate precision with each millimeter-thick, fingernail-sized silicon chip incorporating 30-100 sandwiched layers of etched interconnected transistors and electronic components. But chip structure and computing power doesn’t stand still: It must keep pace with new tech innovations. “Each new generation requires more energy and water and generates more greenhouse gases than the previous generation,” Williams explains. However, few seem aware of the looming risk. Competition among tech giants to produce faster, more advanced devices is leading to unbridled demand for increasingly sophisticated semiconductors, worsening global impacts. Unless urgent action is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/ever-smarter-consumer-electronics-push-world-toward-environmental-brink/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/09/ever-smarter-consumer-electronics-push-world-toward-environmental-brink/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-287749</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>At-risk groups in Indonesia demand greater say in climate policymaking</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/at-risk-groups-in-indonesia-demand-greater-say-in-climate-policymaking/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/at-risk-groups-in-indonesia-demand-greater-say-in-climate-policymaking/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Aug 2024 05:21:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/06/13155730/Pomalaa-2-1200x800-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=286139</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Disability rights and inclusion, Disasters, Emission Reduction, Environment, Environmental Policy, Global Environmental Crisis, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Human Rights, Impact Of Climate Change, Politics, and Regulations]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Civil society groups and communities most affected by the effects of climate change are calling on the Indonesian government to include them in the decision-making process of climate policies. Groups such as those representing the urban poor and the disabled say they haven’t been meaningfully involved in the process, particularly the drafting of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Civil society groups and communities most affected by the effects of climate change are calling on the Indonesian government to include them in the decision-making process of climate policies. Groups such as those representing the urban poor and the disabled say they haven’t been meaningfully involved in the process, particularly the drafting of Indonesia’s revised goals and commitments for reducing greenhouse gas emissions under the 2015 Paris Agreement. Every country that has signed up to the Paris climate deal must submit a list of these commitments, known as its nationally determined contribution, or NDC, and update it every five years. This is crucial to ensuring that each country’s efforts align with the global goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. The Indonesian government submitted its first NDC in 2015, and has since updated it twice. In the revision, it has raised its emissions reduction target, which now stands at 31.89% by 2030 with its own efforts, or 53.2% with international support. The government is now revising its NDC for the third time. The submission deadline is February 2025, but the government says it aims to submit the document to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, by the end of this year. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the government entity in charge of drafting the NDC, said the latest document will contain a number of improvements, such as accounting for new greenhouse gases. However, in an open&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/at-risk-groups-in-indonesia-demand-greater-say-in-climate-policymaking/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/at-risk-groups-in-indonesia-demand-greater-say-in-climate-policymaking/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-286139</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Biomass power grows in Japan despite new understanding of climate risks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/biomass-power-grows-in-japan-despite-new-understanding-of-climate-risks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/biomass-power-grows-in-japan-despite-new-understanding-of-climate-risks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jul 2024 20:55:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Annelise Giseburt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/29162909/logs-wood-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=285289</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Circular economy]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, California, Canada, East Asia, Japan, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Bioenergy, carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Footprint, Carbon Sequestration, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Science, Conservation, Controversial, Emission Reduction, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Policy, Forest Carbon, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Globalization, Green, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Impact Of Climate Change, International Trade, Law, Mitigation, Plantations, Politics, Pollution, Research, and Temperate Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Japan is at a crossroads in its controversial use of burning forest biomass to make electricity. While the government and private sector’s understanding of the fuel’s harmful environmental and climate impacts is growing, biomass power plants long in the pipeline continue to come online, requiring ever-greater volumes of imported wood pellets from primary forests in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Japan is at a crossroads in its controversial use of burning forest biomass to make electricity. While the government and private sector’s understanding of the fuel’s harmful environmental and climate impacts is growing, biomass power plants long in the pipeline continue to come online, requiring ever-greater volumes of imported wood pellets from primary forests in Canada or plantations in Vietnam. Biomass importers and users in Japan are being forced to reevaluate their supply chains after U.S. wood pellet producer Enviva declared bankruptcy in March and prominent ecologists visiting Japan from Canada warned of the pellets’ environmental risks. In addition, new biomass policies from Japan’s biggest banks emphasize the importance of sustainable sourcing, which forest advocates say they hope will encourage biomass users to improve their practices. But ultimately, forest advocates argue that, no matter which supply chain biomass users choose, burning wood to generate electricity is fundamentally untenable, as it puts significant amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere despite the global need to drastically reduce emissions. In 2022, burning biomass accounted for roughly 6% of Japan’s total CO2 emissions, according to a Japanese climate expert. Still, under international carbon accounting rules, Japan is able to count biomass emissions as zero because trees sequester CO2 throughout their lives. Many experts say this is a misguided policy. Using forest biomass for electricity generation took off in Japan in 2012, when the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry introduced a feed-in tariff (FIT) with 20-year fixed rates to support renewable energy projects. “Before the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/biomass-power-grows-in-japan-despite-new-understanding-of-climate-risks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/biomass-power-grows-in-japan-despite-new-understanding-of-climate-risks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-285289</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Beleaguered Indonesian civil society gets lift in push for just energy transition</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/beleaguered-indonesian-civil-society-gets-lift-in-push-for-just-energy-transition/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/beleaguered-indonesian-civil-society-gets-lift-in-push-for-just-energy-transition/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jul 2024 12:08:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/24114604/ANGI9488-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=284938</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Agroforestry, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Electric Cars, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Law, Palm Oil, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Civil society organizations in Indonesia are getting a boost to ensure their participation in the country’s clean energy transition and land stewardship, amid an increasingly hostile climate for groups advocating for environmental and social rights. Four new projects launched June 27 by the European Union delegation to Indonesia are designed to strengthen CSO [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Civil society organizations in Indonesia are getting a boost to ensure their participation in the country’s clean energy transition and land stewardship, amid an increasingly hostile climate for groups advocating for environmental and social rights. Four new projects launched June 27 by the European Union delegation to Indonesia are designed to strengthen CSO capacity and participation in the fields of land-use governance and the energy transition; support for Indigenous peoples and local communities; gender equality and youth empowerment; and human rights monitoring and advocacy. Denis Chaibi, the EU ambassador to Indonesia, said the projects aligned with the Indonesian government’s goals of transitioning away from fossil fuels, reducing deforestation while increasing reforestation, and ultimately achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2060. To ensure these goals are met, there needs to be meaningful participation from CSOs as they’re a vital part of Indonesia’s democracy, Chaibi said. “There’s no point in putting a lot of rules if people don’t follow the rules, if they are not convinced. So it’s about the conviction of people, and for that it has to be an inclusive approach,” he said on the sidelines of the project launch in Jakarta. “The people have to be consulted. The people have to provide solutions. They have to give their feedback.” Meaningful civic participation will also help ensure the government’s development agenda isn’t focused solely on reducing carbon emissions, but also benefits the public, according to Damayanti Buchori, director of the Center for Transdisciplinary and Sustainability Sciences at the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/beleaguered-indonesian-civil-society-gets-lift-in-push-for-just-energy-transition/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-284938</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Better accounting of peat and mangrove carbon to help Indonesia’s climate policies</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/better-accounting-of-peat-and-mangrove-carbon-to-help-indonesias-climate-policies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/better-accounting-of-peat-and-mangrove-carbon-to-help-indonesias-climate-policies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Jun 2024 15:42:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/11/02134455/kalteng_0457-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283163</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Emission Reduction, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Mangroves, Peatlands, Politics, Rainforests, Research, Soil Carbon, Tropical Forests, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Researchers looking into how Indonesia calculates its greenhouse gas emissions from peatlands and mangroves say they’ve identified ways for a more accurate accounting that will help the country meet its emissions reduction goals and refine its climate policies. Indonesia is a major emitter of GHGs, mainly due to the deforestation and burning of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Researchers looking into how Indonesia calculates its greenhouse gas emissions from peatlands and mangroves say they’ve identified ways for a more accurate accounting that will help the country meet its emissions reduction goals and refine its climate policies. Indonesia is a major emitter of GHGs, mainly due to the deforestation and burning of its rainforests. To help limit global warming to 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, as set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement, Indonesia has committed to slashing emissions by 31.89% by 2030, or by 43.2% with international support. About half of Indonesia’s GHG emissions come from deforestation, forest and peat fires, and land-use changes, so the bulk of the country’s emission reduction is expected to come this sector, known as FOLU, or “forest and other land use.” The government aims to do this by curbing forest loss and fires and by intensifying reforestation efforts. The goal is for Indonesia’s forests to absorb more carbon than they release by 2030, a target known as Indonesia’s FOLU net sink 2030. Accurate and transparent measurement of carbon emissions and removal is crucial, especially for Indonesia’s vast wetland ecosystems, which include 14% of the world’s tropical peatlands and 22% of its mangroves. These ecosystems store large amounts of carbon and are central to Indonesia’s climate policies. Daniel Murdiyarso, a principal scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), calls peatlands and mangroves “key ecosystems” due to their significant carbon storage, sequestering a combined total of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/better-accounting-of-peat-and-mangrove-carbon-to-help-indonesias-climate-policies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283163</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Water is key as study shows restoration of drained tropical peat is possible</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/water-is-key-as-study-shows-restoration-of-drained-tropical-peat-is-possible/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/water-is-key-as-study-shows-restoration-of-drained-tropical-peat-is-possible/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Jun 2024 15:52:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/06/10092215/2-100_0700-min-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=283016</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Ecosystems, Emission Reduction, Environment, Forests, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Industry, Landscape Restoration, Logging, Nature-based climate solutions, Peatlands, Plantations, Rehabilitation, Research, Restoration, Soil Carbon, Trees, Water, and Wetlands]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In 2015, Indonesian forestry giant Asia Pulp &#38; Paper announced it would retire thousands of hectares of its commercial timber plantation in Sumatra, with the ultimate goal of restoring the land back to the tropical peat swamp it once was. The ambitious project marked a notable shift in the forest management practices of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — In 2015, Indonesian forestry giant Asia Pulp &amp; Paper announced it would retire thousands of hectares of its commercial timber plantation in Sumatra, with the ultimate goal of restoring the land back to the tropical peat swamp it once was. The ambitious project marked a notable shift in the forest management practices of APP, which had been heavily criticized in the past for draining and clearing large swaths of carbon-rich peat forests to plant the acacia trees from which paper, packaging and many other consumer products are made. Central to APP’s effort was rewetting: the company had dug canals throughout the peat landscape to drain the waterlogged soil. Now it needed to do the reverse, blocking those same canals to allow the land to once again retain water. And it seems to have worked, according to a newly published study in the journal Scientific Reports. Nearly a decade since the start of rewetting, soil carbon emissions have gone down, while native trees have sprung up, write the international group of scientists behind the study. “We demonstrate that restoration through canal blocking has led to an enduring rise in the water table and initial recovery of the former vegetation cover through the re-establishment of native PSF [peat swamp forest] tree species,” they write. And once the canals were blocked, they add, nature required little help from humans: “The only active interventions are [i] canal blocking for moderate rewetting that avoids inundation where possible, [ii] limited local removal of existing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/water-is-key-as-study-shows-restoration-of-drained-tropical-peat-is-possible/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-283016</doi>				</item>
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