Jakarta: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has announced an ambitious plan to shift the country entirely to renewable energy within the next decade—well ahead of its official 2040 target, reports The Straits Times.
“We are planning to achieve 100 per cent renewable energy within the next 10 years,” President Prabowo said during a joint press event with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brasilia on July 9. “The target, of course, is 2040, but my experts tell me we can achieve this much faster.”
Indonesia currently relies heavily on fossil fuels, with coal and other non-renewables supplying around 80 percent of the country’s electricity. It is one of the world’s top producers and consumers of coal.
Since taking office in 2024, President Prabowo has voiced strong support for accelerating the shift to clean energy—often diverging from his government’s official stance and from the approach of his predecessor, who had committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2060.
Indonesia’s most recent national energy plan projects that 75 percent of new power generation capacity over the next nine years will come from renewable sources. However, that plan still allows for additional coal and gas capacity and does not address the large number of existing coal plants, many of which have come online only in recent years.
The country’s rapid industrial growth, especially in nickel processing, has been largely powered by newly constructed coal-fired plants built to serve that sector’s energy demands.
In 2022, Indonesia signed a major international climate finance agreement — the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) — aimed at supporting its shift away from coal and building renewable energy infrastructure. While the deal was initially hailed as a model for other middle-income countries, progress has been slow.
President Prabowo’s renewed push for a faster energy transition could signal a shift in national priorities, but it remains to be seen how this vision will align with existing industrial strategies and energy investments.
