Air Quality in Coal and Carbon intensive regions in Indonesia

Hello, Cynthia here in Think-team!

After a long break we had in Indonesia to celebrate Eid Mubarak last week, I hope you stay healthy wherever you are. 😊

On this occasion, I would like to share a piece of information that I encountered during my exploration in TIPPING+ project. Last week, our founder shared with you about how Indonesia still highly depends on coal in the electricity system here. FYI, TIPPING+ project in Indonesia focuses on two different regions, Banten and Bali province. These two regions have different characteristics in general. Banten is well-known as an industrial region (home to thousands of medium and large industries and coal power plants, whereas Bali is recognized worldwide as a wonderful tourist destination with beautiful landscapes and cultures. If you are not familiar with Banten, imagine if you want to fly to the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta, you will be welcomed first in the Soekarno Hatta Airport, right? The airport is located in Banten administratively, not in Jakarta 😊.

In terms of the electricity system, Java island (including Banten Province) supplies electricity to Bali yet Bali still has one coal power plant operating since 2015.

While I was defining mainstream narrative in this region, I came to learn how the economic activities and demographic factors give a drastic impact on ecology, especially air quality. For the last 7 years, based on the environmental statistic issued by Indonesia’s statistical agency, the air quality (i.e., Total Solid Particulate) is beyond what WHO guideline at some time.

The air quality of Banten and Bali is depicted above for total suspended particle. The trend shows how the existence of coal and carbon-intensive activities (e.g., coal combustion, fossil-based vehicle, industrial, manufacturing) has implications on the air quality of the regions. Better air quality might be due to stricter regulation and more efficient technology deployment.

I am excited to explore more regarding how Indonesia could grow towards more sustainable condition along with TIPPING+ project. Stay tuned for the updates.

Thank you for reading. 👍🏼