Today..
Redefining Indonesia’s fossil future and energy industry
Edward Cunningham, Boston, Massachusetts | Fri, 05/06/2011 9:59 PM | Opinion
Coal investment policy will need to focus on the creation of higher value-added activities along the coal supply chain such as logistics, processing, and, potentially, higher investments in coal bed methane production sites, that in turn will enable Indonesian firms to capture more value than in the past and consolidate the footprint of coal exploitation.
Indonesian leaders from the energy industry, government and academics will convene at Bimasena, Indonesia’s Mines and Energy Society, May 10 and 11 to discuss the public policy challenges with counterparts from the Asian region and the US.
This international seminar, entitled “Energy, Innovation, and Sustainable Development”, is being organized by the University of Indonesia’s Faculty of Economics along with the Harvard Kennedy School, and sponsored by Bimasena and the Rajawali Foundation.
It is the hope of these partners to identify a path forward that will enable Indonesia to strengthen intensification of energy investment, diversification of energy supply, and conservation of energy demand.
It is only through coordinated advances on these three fronts that Indonesia will be able to ensure
wrobust real economic growth, energy security, and environmental sustainability.
The writer is a joint post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. In the fall of 2011 he will join Boston University’s Department of Geography and Environment as an assistant professor focusing on energy markets, energy policy, and the political economy of development.