Join us to hear from Prof Brodjonegoro on how regulators, state-owned enterprises, and the private sector are evolving and collaborating to deliver solutions and innovations for Indonesia's sustainability challenges and create future opportunities.
SPEAKER
Prof. Bambang Brodjonegoro obtained his PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He started his career as an academia, lecturer, researcher, and faculty dean at the University of Indonesia. The opportunities to contribute to his country as the Minister of Research and Technology/Chief of National Research and Innovation Agency, Minister of National Development Planning, and Minister of Finance have established his crucial role in integrating Indonesia’s research, technology, innovation, development planning, financing, and economic stabilization.
Prof. Brodjonegoro has also actively participated in numerous local and international organizations, such as Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and various Indonesian companies. He currently holds the position of Commissioner in several publicly listed companies in Indonesia, including one of Indonesia’s unicorn startups, Bukalapak.com.
SHARING HIGHLIGHTS
- Generating renewable energy in Indonesia is complex due to its archipelagic nature: Indonesia is the biggest archipelago country in the world, with more than 17,000 islands in its territory. While these islands have potential to generate renewables, many are hard to access, necessitating conversion into electricity before they can be transported to power other islands. Moreover, sources of renewables may be located in areas of high conservation value, creating another dilemma of whether or not to cut the forests to tap into the renewables there.
- The hurdle to overcome - balancing the energy trilemma in local context: With this complexity in mind, Prof Bambang argued that energy transition has no one-size-fits-all solution; aspects of energy trilemma (availability and reliability, affordability, and sustainability) must be contextualised to ensure an effective and equitable energy transition. The good news is that more investors are approaching this issue more strategically. Prof Bambang further emphasised the need for downstreaming and human capital development to manage such investments if Indonesia is to fulfil its net-zero target by 2060.
- "How can we reduce emissions from the transportation sector in Indonesia?" Prof Bambang proposed three ways to address this issue. First, Indonesia can enhance its public transportation and ensure that people use it, especially in cities. Second, government may introduce biofuel as a fuel substitute, thus reducing emissions from vehicle use. Third, the nation may encourage more adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). However, producing biofuel and EVs is carbon-intensive, with palm oil as the primary biofuel source in Indonesia being infamous for its disruptive farming practices and EVs requiring a lot of metals that may not be sourced responsibly. As such, the government must work with relevant stakeholders to find the most optimal solution.