70 CDM Projects Approved for 2009

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Indonesia approved 70 foreign-funded projects in 2008 aimed at tackling climate change and there were likely to be more this year, a climate change official said on Tuesday.

The 2008 projects fall under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism, which allows developed countries, known also as Annex 1, to exceed their carbon emission limits by investing in climate-friendly projects in developing countries in exchange for “carbon credits.”

“At first, we only targeted five projects with the provisions for another 20, but apparently the CDM attracted a lot of interest,” said Masnellyarti Hilman, the head of the National Commission for CDM.

She said 21 of the 70 projects had already been approved by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

A national commission set up in 2005 oversees CDM activities in the country. It currently operates under the Ministry of Environment but Masnellyarti said it would be transferred to the National Council on Climate Change this year.

“In 2009, so far, we have already submitted 12 project proposals to the council,” she said, adding that the proposals would be evaluated by a technical team.

President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono acts as head of the council, which was established under a 2008 presidential decree. The council also includes the head of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, or BMG, and 17 ministers, including those responsible for the environment, fisheries, forestry, finance, foreign affairs, home affairs and health.

Agus Purnomo, head of the council’s secretariat, said the council would coordinate CDM projects.

“However, I cannot give more details on how the council will function because the official statement has not yet been released,” Agus said.

Masnellyarti said that the process of submitting a project for CDM approval would not be any different under the council.

Masnellyarti said Indonesia was late in setting up its CDM processes compared with China and India, which started in 2000.

“But, from the numbers of proposals we are receiving, I think that Indonesia could compete with those countries and get more investment in CDM projects,” she said.