Indonesia to Cut Emissions by 29 Percent in 2030

Indonesia has unveiled an ambitious new target for reducing carbon emissions, promising to slash its greenhouse gas output by 29 percent by 2030, the government said Wednesday.

The increased commitment by one of the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters will be officially submitted to the United Nations later this month ahead of a major climate change summit in December.

"We have reached the decision to reduce (emissions) by 29 percent by 2030," environment and forestry minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar told reporters.

The pledge goes beyond Indonesia's 2009 agreement to slash emissions by 26 percent -- or 41 percent with international assistance -- by 2020.

The final draft submission states Indonesia has set aside 12.7 million hectares (31.4 million acres) of forest for conservation to help realize its target. The government also hopes to derive nearly a quarter of its vast energy needs from renewable sources within a decade.

"Beyond 2020, Indonesia envisions an even bolder commitment to emission reductions," said the draft submission distributed by the ministry.

Indonesia, along with several other emissions-intensive economies, had been under pressure to submit its target before the U.N. climate summit in Paris.

"The Indonesia baseline uses the business as usual scenario of emission projections starting in 2010, based on historical trajectory (2000-2010), projected increases in the energy sector, and the absence of mitigation actions," the submission says.

It is hoped that a new pact to cut global emissions applicable to all countries will be hammered out at the long-awaited conference.