Indonesia could cut CO2 by 70 pct by 2030: report

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia could cut its projected greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent by 2030 at a relatively low cost, but would still need help from developed countries, a government report said on Monday.

Indonesia's greenhouse gas emissions are forecast to increase by about 60 percent to 3.3 billion tonnes in 2030, the report said.

But the country could cut those forecast emissions in 2030 by about 70 percent by implementing 90 strategies across eight sectors including forests, cement, power, petroleum and gas, agriculture, transportation and buildings.

"Indonesia could potentially provide up to 2.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas abatement by 2030," said the report, "Indonesia's Greenhouse Gas Abatement Cost Curve," released by the National Council on Climate Change.

According to U.N. figures that saving would roughly match Russia's entire greenhouse gas emissions in 2008.

Such cuts would represent 7 percent of required global emission reductions needed to limit overall warming to no more than 2 degrees centigrade, a common benchmark for avoiding more dangerous change, it said.

Scientists say that unchecked carbon emissions will make extreme events such as powerful recent floods in Pakistan and a record-breaking drought in Russia more frequent.

"The average cost of emissions reductions in Indonesia is relatively low compared to most developed country options, at around $2 per tCO2e (per tonne of greenhouse gases) in 2030," not including administration costs, the report added.

"This means that underwriting abatement opportunities in Indonesia may be economically appealing to developed countries."

An existing carbon market already allows polluters in developed countries to offset their emissions by paying for low-carbon projects in emerging economies.

Carbon offsets, or CERs, traded on the European Climate Exchange currently change hands for just under 14 euros ($18) per tonne.

INDUSTRIALISED

Up to three quarters of the billions needed to implement the plan should be provided by industrialized countries because they were the biggest historical emitters, said the head of the council's secretariat, Agus Purnomo.

Indonesia has recently signed a $1 billion climate deal with Norway and hopes to benefit from the $30 billion of fast start funds that developing countries agreed to provide at last year's Copenhagen climate talks.

Over 75 percent of Indonesia's abatement opportunity lies in managing land use change, such as curbing emissions from deforestation and peatlands, the report said.

Carbon-rich peatlands release vast amounts of greenhouse gases when they are disturbed - which usually happens when peatland forests are cleared and drained for plantations.

More than half a billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions could be avoided through a proposed scheme to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), where developed countries paid developing nations not to chop down their trees, the report said.

Indonesia could also reduce its emissions by upgrading its cement industry, it added.

(Reporting by Sunanda Creagh; editing by Gerard Wynn and Keiron Henderson)