This week, several representatives from the Center for Global Sustainability (CGS) participated in the Think20 (T20) Indonesia Summit 2022 and a G20 parallel event in Bali, Indonesia. CGS Director Nate Hultman, Assistant Research Director Ryna Cui, Assistant Research Professor Jiehong Lou, and Postdoctoral Associate Mengye Zhu traveled to Indonesia to engage with scholars from around the globe and promote energy transition strategies.
Before the start of T20, CGS Assistant Research Director Ryna Cui traveled to Bali early and participated as a panelist in a G20 parallel event, High-Level Dialogue on Mobilizing Finance for Indonesia’s Just Transition on August 30, 2022. During this dialogue, Cui discussed the findings and implications of CGS’s recent report with the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR) on Indonesia's coal phase-out and financing strategy.
Additionally, CGS had a delegation present at the T20 Indonesia Summit 2022. T20, an official engagement group of G20, brings together leading think tanks and research centers from around the globe. As we head towards COP27 this fall, the conference aims to provide research-based policy recommendations to G20 leaders. The conference kicked off for CGS on Friday, September 2nd with advisory think tank KAPSARC’s T20 side event, Workshop: Advancing the Global Circular Carbon Economy.
CGS Director Nate Hultman is formally attending as a friend of Task Force 3 (TF3) co-chair Alin Halimatussadiah, Head of Environmental Economics Research Group at LPEM FEB UI, who visited Maryland’s campus in June. As a friend of the co-chair, Hultman provided feedback on policy briefs produced by TF3. On the first official day of the summit, Nate was a moderator for Plenary Session 2: Smoothing Green and Just Energy Transition.
“Energy is a crucial part of development, yet conventional energy, we have found, has significant limitations, and a rapid, just, and affordable energy transition is urgently needed," Director Nate Hultman presented during Plenary Session 2. "The energy transition cannot be done by a single country alone and, moreover, global cooperation can greatly enhance the effectiveness and impact of the transition and enhance benefits for each country.”
Additionally, Hultman was a speaker in Parallel Session 3: Global Governance in Climate Actions, presenting and sharing information on U.S. experience in setting ambitious climate targets.
"[The US long-term climate goals] is one example of how each country then has to implement its own specific set of policies and its own specific strategies…to get to that long-term net-zero goal," Hultman said while discussing effective action against the climate crisis. "All of us in our own country contexts, in some ways, have been working not only in the global conversation but also in national, and sometimes subnational conversations of how can states or cities do even more.”
In addition to attending conferences, CGS representatives traveled to Jakarta to engage with representatives from academic institutions, government officials, think tanks, and other organizations on energy transitions and policies. In collaboration with the University of Indonesia, Director Nate Hultman gave a guest lecture on climate action in the U.S. hosted by the Graduate Study in Economic Planning and Public Policy (MPKP) program.
On September 9th, our CGS team engaged in a discussion with research teams from the think tank, LPEM FEB UI, on how to increase understanding and transparency of analysis of clean, just, and affordable energy transitions.
CGS staff also attended IESR's Indonesia Clean Energy Forum in Jakarta on September 12th. At the forum, Hultman delivered a talk on U.S. climate policy and discussed U.S.-Indonesia collaboration on understanding just, clean, affordable energy transitions. Fabby Tumiwa, Executive Director of IESR, moderated the discussion.
On the last day of our CGS representatives' trip to Indonesia, Director Hultman spoke about the U.S. All-In climate strategy and U.S.-Indonesia climate collaboration in a public lecture hosted by IESR and the Executive Office of the President of the Republic of Indonesia.
"We are at a unique moment in our global history around how we’re thinking about sustainability, climate, and economic development..and that is why we are having this conversation," Hultman said during his lecture. "The way we’re going to be able to [acheive climate targets] is by being flexible, creative, and learning from each other as rapidly as we can."
Stay tuned for our experts’ thoughts after the conclusion of their events in Indonesia next week.