Palembang has completed a greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory for 2016 to 2019 period; as a next step, they establish a carbon emissions reduction target. Setting that target based on an accurate and thorough inventory of GHG emissions communicates a city’s commitment to managing its footprint.
On 14 September 2020, a consultation meeting with Palembang city was held as a follow up the two previous meetings in mid-April and end-April 2020. Hosted by the Environmental Agency, the main objective of the meeting was to discuss the emission reduction target. Various official city agencies related to climate action attended the meeting, Planning Agency, the Fisheries Agency, the Public Work Agency, the Industry & Trade Agency, the Transportation Agency, and the Public Housing Agency, to name a few. The private sectors joined the meeting as well, namely PT Pupuk Sriwijaya, PT Pertamina, PT KAI. They were the top national companies, representing the large producers of GHG emission in Palembang. IUC Asia Helpdesk and CCROM team joined the meeting through an online platform, while the local university assisted through face-to-face meetings with city stakeholders.
CCROM opened the meeting by sharing the profile of GHG emission in Palembang. The annual carbon emission between 2016 and 2019 have fluctuated between 5.4 million and 5.7 million. The stationary energy sector continued to be the dominant source of Palembang’s GHG emissions, accounting for 70% of net emissions, comprising fuel combustion from the industrial sector (36%); energy consumption (including indirect emission) from residential (23%), and the rest were associated with fueling combustion both in commercial and institutional buildings. The transportation sector contributed 19% of the net emission, which mostly come from on-road transportation, and both the waste and IPPU sector contributed 5%. Palembang’s emission per capita value of 3.4 tCO2 versus 1.5 tCO2 for the Malang reflected the large impact of the industry activities. A large share of GHG emissions within the industrial sector was attributable to fossil fuel combustion from PT Pupuk Sriwijaya. It accounted for 18% of net emission in connection with coal utilization for steam and electricity generation.
Interpreting the city’s targets allows for the projection of absolute emissions, a consistent definition of the BAU case is required to allow for a consistent estimation of GHG savings. For Palembang’s case, the BAU is defined as the future emission growth that would occur if the GHG emissions intensity for 2016-2019 remained the same for every year, in the future, with the city population growth according to current projections. The exception is made for the agriculture sector; the projection takes the account only the 2019 emission level. Between 2016 to 2019, agriculture activities have decreased, resulting in a reduction in the emission level.
The meeting also discussed the approach to set the emission reduction. It started with understanding the needs and opportunities to reduce emissions, including relevant policy objectives. A city’s mitigation targets should adequately reflect its contribution to the climate goals committed by Indonesia ‘s NDC. There was also a need to consider the city’s emissions level, profile, and mitigation opportunities. All on-going and planned mitigations projects have been carefully reviewed to estimate the contribution of GHG reduction. CCROM emphasized to monitor the implementation of the projects. The discussion came to the agreement to set the interim target of a 16% reduction against a 2030 BAU scenario. The refinement would be further carried out to incorporate the other potential mitigation projects, including the project, with additional financing aid and technology support.
