Indonesia’s commitment to a green economy is increasingly visible. In this regard, The Ministry of National Development Planning or National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) introduced the Green Economy Index (GEI) at the G20 side events.
The launch of the first GEI in Indonesia has carried out virtually at the 3rd G20 Development Working Group (DWG) Side Event: “Towards Implementation and Beyond: Measuring the Progress of Low Carbon and Green Economy”.
The Director of the Environment of the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas Medrilzam said that so far, there is no clear measurement tool to find out how the economic condition is. Therefore, his party tried to make a measuring instrument called the green economy index.
“We at Bappenas, in the end, don’t have a clear measuring tool to evaluate where we know in the context of a green economy. Therefore, we are trying to make a kind of measuring instrument which we call the green economic index,” he explained, quoted from a press release, Wednesday (10/8/2022).
He also revealed that the green economy has been discussed and initiated for a long time. However, it tends to only become a discourse without any concrete steps.
“To be honest, this is our first attempt. Because this is what I have said, this is the first time in history that we have started trying to improve our development performance,” he continued.
In the GEI, there are 15 indicators used to measure the performance of the green economy in Indonesia. These indicators are classified into three pillars: economic, social, and environmental.
“In general, the performance index in Indonesia has progressed up and down. But from 2011 to 2020, it increased quite a bit from around 47.2% to around 59% 2020. There was an increase of around 25% from the overall index. However, there was a decline in 2015 due to The impact of forest fires at that time being so significant,” explained Medrilzam.
Meanwhile, a member of Commission VII DPR, Dyah Roro Esti, said that the problem of climate change brings potential losses to the state. So, climate change must be mitigated effectively.
According to her, four sectors will suffer losses from the impact of climate change. First, the sea and coast have a potential loss of Rp. 81.82 trillion.
This, she said, was due to an increase in sea level so that it could drown remote islands or cause flooding. Then bring this effect very much on society.
“The second is the waters. There is a potential loss of Rp 7.29 trillion. Because it turns out that rising sea surface temperatures can cause coral bleaching, and this has a huge impact on fish production,” he said.
Furthermore, in the agricultural sector, it is around Rp. 19.94 trillion. This is caused by forest fires to prolonged drought. The fourth sector is the health of Rp 6.48 trillion, which is caused by respiratory problems due to air pollution.
He mentioned the opportunity or potential if Indonesia succeeded in mitigating climate change, namely, it could create more than 15.3 million additional jobs in 2045. Of course, it would be greener with the green jobs program which is one of the benefits.
“With this low-carbon development, our GDP growth can reach 6% per year until 2045, which is 100 years of Indonesian independence, and has the potential to become one of the largest economies in the world in 2045,” he explained.