Hashim: Global Carbon Investment Momentum Must Be Seized

Jakarta (ANTARA) — The President’s Special Envoy for Energy and the Environment, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, has affirmed that all domestic policymakers must act swiftly to seize the momentum of high global interest in carbon investment.

At the launch of the Ministry of Environment’s Carbon Registration Unit System (SRUK) in Jakarta on Thursday, Hashim said the certainty of the system now built by the government is the main draw that global investors have long been awaiting.

“Investors from abroad have been waiting for the Indonesian government’s system. Now we must seize the existing momentum so we can harness it for the people’s welfare,” he said.

Hashim explained that the massive interest from international and domestic businesses stems in part from the success of ministry and agency bureaucracies in launching the SRUK in a mature and unhindered manner.

The integration of green instruments mapping, coordinated across sectors, was seen as tangible proof of the success of bureaucratic reform at home, as expected by President Prabowo Subianto.

The high appreciation was directed in particular at the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Forestry, the Financial Services Authority (OJK), and the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries.

According to Hashim, the regulatory and infrastructural readiness of the SRUK is an operational achievement that the international community has awaited since the agreement at the COP 21 climate conference in Paris, France, a decade ago, to realise an accountable carbon trading ecosystem.

Then, to ensure investment flows smoothly without obstacles on the ground, Hashim specifically requested commitment and active cooperation from all regional government officials — governors, regents, and mayors — to steward the implementation at the grassroots level.

Synergy across regional governments is deemed crucial to avoid delays or administrative hurdles, so that the momentum of the primary carbon market can swiftly be converted into instruments to raise the living standards of the wider population.