Ella Gray
Assignment 6- Submission Statement
‘Global Immersion Guarantee Indonesia Block 3’
Contents Page
Title page.
1
Contents Page
2
Executive Summary
3
Introduction/ Purpose
4-5
Concerns and Suggestions
6-9
Conclusion
10
References
11
Executive Summary
This Submission statement is primary going to discuss the importance of funding in
transitioning to renewables, placing focus on incentivising this movement. Within this
discussion, we will highlight the importance of the environmental, societal, and economic
sectors interacting and working together towards this common goal of addressing climate
change. Within this, we hope to work towards achieving our SDG’s that are global policies,
ensuring we all to have the same set of goals and targets, allowing global cohesion. With a
focus on how DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) work, and programs they
implement that aid the economic partnership Indonesia and Australia share. Moving on to
suggestions on how to address this priority, focus on placed on subsidies to attract investors,
education, and communication. With concerns remaining, discussing how renewables still
have the potential to be damaging as well as challenges in trying to change ideology of those
on the coal mining sector.
Introduction/ Purpose
The priority being discussed is the lack of commitment, involving both funding and political
action, to drive renewable resources. It is going the cover the interactions between Indonesia
and Australia in nurturing our bilateral relationship to achieve our climate change goals
together. We aim to do this by providing incentives for funding renewables, targeting
investors to help achieve our Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). This is a priority as
we cannot continue to develop without addressing our pre-existing problems and finding
ways to overcome them as otherwise impacts on future generations will be irreversible. If we
are unable to discontinue the use of fossil fuels, this will cause carbon emissions to continue
to rise, increasing the holes in our ozone layer contributing to the increase in global
temperature. Thus, contributing to biodiversity loss as depletion of finite resources and
increase in natural disasters will destroy our ecosystems. This environmental impact will
prevent Australia and Indonesia’s ability to contribute to the achievement of global SDGs, for
example, SDG 7 “affordable and clean energy’ (Martin., 2017).
It will also inhibit future growth and economic activity, as if the need for renewable energy is
ignored, the energy sector will not be able to keep up with the production demand as
resources deplete. If practices continue as they are, the loss of finite resources and ecological
damage will contribute to increased poverty levels and infrastructure damage, potentially
decreasing overall “decline in human health” (Cho et al. 2019). Primarily, this financial
instability will reduce the government’s ability to meet the needs of its people, making it
evident how vital funding for renewables is to reduce our production of carbon emissions,
linking environment, economic and social implications together. The economy is a sector that
is typically placed at high priority as its changes are quantifiable and thus “conventionally
included in policies” (Adger et al., 2012). However, a person’s culture is vital to their sense
of belonging and connection to place and community, therefor preserving sacred sites will not
only protect our environment, but people’s connection to their land. This demonstrates how
movement towards sustainable development adopts an interconnected approach, with focus
on a “socio-economic structure” that combines several different disciplines of “environment,
society and economy” that act as a unified entity (Giddings, Hopwood and O’Brien, 2002).
This priority is vital as we can’t just flip the switch, and completely pull the plug on fossil
fuels as this would be too risky, especially for a low SES country like Indonesia. Instead, we
need to transition to renewables, doing this by providing strict regulations that are attractive
for investors, using this funding to gradually increase the proportion of green energy
produced in comparison to fossil fuel production.
The stakeholder that I will be placing focus on is DFAT, standing for Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade. This international organisation primarily works to “tackle global
challenges, increase trade and investment opportunities” (DFAT, 2022). I am going to place
focus on one program DFAT are responsible, called the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive
Economic Partnership Agreement, that is a framework for Indonesia and Australia to “unlock
the vast potential of the bilateral economic partnership” (DFAT, 2021). This aims to enhance
the cooperation between “business, communities and individuals” (DFAT, 2021) for both
countries, working towards utilizing the resources each country can provide to each other.
This demonstrates movement towards achieving some of the SDG goals. For example,
utilizing the abundance of natural resources in Indonesia combined with the funding and
infrastructure of Australia, we can work towards achieving both SDG 7 “affordable and clean
energy” and SDG 11 “sustainable cities and communities” in turn addressing the broader
picture of climate change (Martin., 2017).
Concerns & Suggestions
To make the shift from coal to renewables, the clean energy sector must be made appealing to
investors. The dire need to transition has motivated the government to provide subsidies in
the form of “Feed in Tariffs, tax incentives and tradeable green certificates” in attempt to
attract investment interest. These measures are vital to initiate movement towards investing
large sums of money, as making them more cost effective will increase the probability that
people will become involved. This reducing the initial barrier of high cost with little (initial)
gain that most experience with renewables, as they are a long-term project, being “20-25
years before projects begin to show positive return” (Adger et al., 2012). However, investors
are not the only audience of governments, as “continued support from the public is critically
important to RE [Renewable Energy] development” (Adger et al., 2012). This is because
government bodies are only in seats of power due to the democratic system of being voted in,
without continued support leaders may not stay in parliament for long enough to make any
long-term change. However, “effective policy and regulatory frameworks” (Byrnes et al.,
2013) must be implemented, and have been on a global scale e.g. SDG’s and the Paris
Agreement. This ruling ensures that from a global to state level, resources are being used to
achieve the same target.
Education and communication are vital skills that provide all individuals with the ability to
understand what is happening and participate in correct ways that are beneficial. Government
bodies at a societal level and those in power need to be able to communicate in a clear and
respectful manner than allows healthy negotiation. However, this shown very difficult in our
group negotiation as people became to obsessed with where their own priority was going to
be placed in the ranking without considering which one is most relevant to address climate
change. Using an international application, this is vital during discussions like, where do we
need the money most? What aspect of the renewable sector will be the most beneficial?
Furthermore, decisions must be made with the priority of what is best for all (globally) at the
for-front. Otherwise, if this does not occur, decisions are made from an egotistical and selfcentred perspective. In terms of education, one must have a knowledge of how things work,
and what is happening in society to make the best-informed decision. Findings from “Green
Innovation and environmental sustainability” support that “increase in energy investment and
education tends to decline co2 emissions”, in both Russia and Japan. This proves the
provision of knowledge puts individuals in the position where they are best informed to make
their own choices. These factors (energy investment and education) were deemed the best
long-term solutions, while short-term ones are much more diverse (Li et al., 2022). A more
local example of this is the New Columbo Plan, which provided Monash Indonesia students
with a grant that allowed us on this study trip. Run by DFAT they aim to increase the level of
knowledge and awareness of students in the Indo-pacific region, with most students travelling
from Australia to Indonesia to learn about a large range of climate change related issues.
They do this by providing “mobility grants” that allow individuals to undertake short-long
term study, internships etc. (DFAT, 2014).
Although tertiary and high-order education is important, most of the public are not in a
position where they are able to spend large amounts of time learning. Thus, a suggestion to
implement community-based programs at a local level that are both informative and
interactive that allows individuals of any educational background to gain an understanding
around what is occurring in a global scale. As for some people, if it is not happening right in
front of them, it is difficult to believe. Therefore, the way these programs can be conducted is
both by trained professionals, but also creating forms of creative media via videos on social
media, posters, interactive games etc. that don’t require one to be doing a university degree.
But ensuring all individuals have access to learning resources. From this, more direction can
be made in the right direction towards tackling climate change as a larger proportion of the
world’s population will be participating.
Although renewables are significantly better for the environment in comparison to fossil
fuels, they still are not entirely ‘green’. In terms of energy production, society needs to find a
way to continue to keep up with the increasing energy demands while transitioning to
renewables. In a perfect world we could just make the switch, however this would be
extremely detrimental to the economy as we do not yet have the facilities to meet both
Australia and Indonesia’s energy needs using just renewables. As infrastructure for them
increases, we must be aware that renewables are not entirely green. And although they are
emission free, they still can have “adverse effects on the environment” (Rahman, Farrok and
Haque, 2022). For example, solar panel production tends to emit various “toxic and
flammable materials” causing risk to public health through contamination or a fire outburst.
When a solar panel reaches the end of its life (around 25 years), disposal of the toxic material
such as “silica, arsenic and cadmium” can cause long term lung damage if inhaled (Rahman,
Farrok and Haque, 2022). This is not to say that we should not use renewables, as now they
are the better option. However, the public need to become aware that they do pose certain
health risk’s during production and disposal if not done correctly. Also, in receiving financial
aid this means more research can be done to understand what the safest and most effective
clean energy production methods are, taking into consideration the life-span and maintenance
cost of such infrastructure as well.
Furthermore, another concern lies within the reliability of the coal industry. This refers to the
high energy output of fossil fuel plants, correlating with large amounts of gain for investors.
This is quite problematic, as now only middle-older generations are in places of power.
Youth right now have plenty of rights in terms of advocacy and have done major things
through strikes and movements. However, when it comes to investment and policymaking we
have very little power (on a larger scale) and are in no position to make progress through
those means. This is quite problematic as financial aid is vital in making any form of largescale movement primary affecting the future of youth, whom can do very little. Action needs
to be taken in attempt to change the ideology of older generations, persuading them to
support the clean energy sector, and allowing all of us to work together towards this common
goal.
Conclusion
Overall, the process to incentivise funding to drive renewable needs to be action taken
together. This is achieved through first acknowledging how large the issue at hand is, and the
effect it may have on all sectors of our society. From the obvious environmental impact of
climate change with global temperatures warming, but also the economic and social
implications this causes. The lack of finite resources (via fossil fuels) will stunt future
economic growth as it will lower our ability to achieve financial stability, preventing the
ability of governments to meet the needs of their people. Culture, being heavily reliant upon
place and community will also be severally impacted as damage to cultural heritage sites may
alter connections to one’s land and cultural assets. Primarily, suggestions to make this
transition easier placed focus around attracting investors through subsidies, as well as
prioritising education and communication within and between people of power e.g.,
governmental bodies to ensure that money being invested is being used in the correct manner.
However, it cannot be ignored that renewables are significantly better for the environment,
they are not entirely clean and still pose health risks to the public, combined with ideology of
some e.g. coal miners that make change quite difficult.
References
Adger, W.N., Barnett, J., Brown, K., Marshall, N. and O’Brien, K. (2012). Cultural
dimensions of climate change impacts and adaptation. Nature Climate Change, [online] 3(2),
pp.112–117. doi:10.1038/nclimate1666.
Byrnes, L., Brown, C., Foster, J. and Wagner, L.D. (2013). Australian renewable energy
policy: Barriers and challenges. Renewable Energy, [online] 60(2013), pp.711–721.
doi:10.1016/j.renene.2013.06.024.
DFAT (2014). New Colombo Plan. [online] Australian Government Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade. Available at: https://www.dfat.gov.au/people-to-people/new-colomboplan.
DFAT (2022). Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
[online] Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Available at:
https://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/in-force/iacepa/indonesia-australiacomprehensive-economic-partnership-agreement [Accessed 5 Feb. 2023].
DFAT (2021). What we do. [online] Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs
and Trade. Available at: https://www.dfat.gov.au/about-us/department/what-we-do [Accessed
5 Feb. 2023].
Giddings, B., Hopwood, B. and O’Brien, G. (2002). Environment, economy and society:
fitting them together into sustainable development. Sustainable Development, 10(4), pp.187–
196. doi:10.1002/sd.199.
Li, L., Li, G., Ozturk, I. and Ullah, S. (2022). Green innovation and environmental
sustainability: Do clean energy investment and education matter? Energy & Environment,
p.0958305X2211150. doi:10.1177/0958305x221115096.
Maher, H. (2021). The relationship between neoliberal ideology and state practice: corporate
power in the Australian mining industry. Australian Journal of Political Science, [online]
57(1), pp.59–74. doi:10.1080/10361146.2021.2014397.
Martin (2017). The Sustainable Development Agenda. [online] United Nations Sustainable
Development. Available at: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/developmentagenda/#:~:text=Sustainable%20development%20has%20been%20defined.
Rahman, A., Farrok, O. and Haque, M.M. (2022). Environmental impact of renewable energy
source based electrical power plants: Solar, wind, hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal, tidal,
ocean, and osmotic. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, [online] 161, p.112279.
doi:10.1016/j.rser.2022.112279.