WASHINGTON – On Wednesday, March 16, Climate Counselor to U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen, John Morton, concluded a visit to Jakarta, Indonesia—the first of an eight-day, three-country trip to Asia to strengthen partnerships and bolster an expedited clean energy transition in the region.
In Indonesia, Counselor Morton and Senior Advisor to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) John Kerry, Ambassador Robert Blake, co-led a delegation of Treasury, SPEC, Department of Energy, Development Finance Corporation, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Agency for International Development officials in discussions with senior Indonesian government officials about collaboration with Indonesia to achieve its goal of transitioning away from coal to a clean energy future. The delegation also met with civil society leaders.
In meetings with key Indonesian government leaders on climate—including Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati, and others—the delegation discussed policy actions that would help to make necessary reforms to achieve an expedited transition in the power sector, including by accelerating its decommissioning of coal-fired power plants and scaling up renewable energy deployment. The discussions also focused on the need to appropriately address the economic development needs of communities and workers impacted by the transition away from coal. Additionally, the delegation discussed how to deepen collaboration between the two countries to engage both public and private partners in mobilizing new capital for Indonesia’s transition to a clean energy future.
This week, Counselor Morton will travel to Manila and next week to Tokyo, where he will hold further discussions on energy transition efforts in the region.