Industry players’ awareness of climate change issues has led to increased efforts to reduce emissions from corporate operational activities as reflected in increased sales of Pertamina New & Renewable Energy (Pertamina NRE) carbon credits.
Pertamina NRE, a subsidiary of State oil and gas company Pertamina, became the first carbon credit seller at the launch of IDX Carbon’s inaugural trading on September 26, 2023. The volume sold in July 2024 reached around 460 thousand tons of CO2e. Pertamina NRE’s carbon credits currently account for 93 percent of the carbon credit market share in Indonesia.
“We have various green and clean energy portfolios that are potential sources of carbon credits. We are very open and enthusiastic to work with industries that have aspirations to reduce emissions from their operational activities,” Dicky Septriadi, Corporate Secretary of Pertamina NRE, said on Wednesday, August 7, 2024.
Pertamina NRE has carbon credits from Lahendong Geothermal Power Plant’s Units 5 and 6 managed by Pertamina NRE’s subsidiary, PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE), with a volume of approximately 864 thousand tCO2e, generated during the period 2016 – 2020. These carbon credits have met the national standards set by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
Green initiatives such as carbon trading have great potential to contribute to the fulfillment of Indonesia’s enhanced nationally determined contribution (ENDC) of 31.89 percent without international support and 43.2 percent with international support. The carbon business ecosystem will be established if there is sufficient support, especially in terms of regulation. The potential in Indonesia is also very large, both technology-based and nature-based, because Indonesia has a large potential for clean energy and forests.
Dicky added that in the future, Pertamina NRE’s carbon credits will not only come from geothermal power plants but also other clean energy sources, such as the Steam Gas Power Plant (PLTGU) from Java-1 plant, which has the potential to reach around 3 million tons of CO2e annually. Another carbon credit source currently in the validation stage is the Sei Mangkei Biogas Power Plant (PLTBg) with an estimated carbon credit of 150 thousand tons of CO2e generated in 2021-2023 and 200 thousand tons of CO2e generated in the period of 2024-2027.
