Professor Jeffrey Sachs, President of SDSN, calling for a "Bali One" - a New Bretton Wood to Finance Post-COVID Recovery and the SDGs
Jakarta, 23 June 2021 : Renowned economist and President of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), Professor Jeffrey Sachs, proposed the possible establishment of ‘Bali One,’ a new Bretton Woods to finance post-COVID-19 recovery and the SDGs at next year’s Bali G20 Summit.
“In our time, we need finance for sustainable development, and we need to reach decarbonization everywhere in the world... I would say 100% everywhere by 2050,” said Professor Sachs during his remarks. “We know that this means an energy transformation to zero-carbon electricity, electric vehicles, hydrogen economy… The components are known, but they're expensive. They require financing.”
According to Professor Sachs, the Bali G20 2022 Summit, presided by Indonesia, could be the watershed moment needed to usher in a new financial compact for the world. “This is our goal, in my opinion, at Bali one: the summit next year of the G20,” said Sachs. “I can't think of a better host of the summit than Indonesia to represent the interests of the developing world, in partnership with all of the world”. Professor Sachs applauded Indonesia and the United States’ collaboration as an exemplary symbol of cooperation between developed and developing countries in the fight against climate change.
Indonesia and the United States are expanding their collaboration to accelerate Indonesia’s renewable energy transition and delivery of net zero carbon emissions. On Wednesday, 23 June, H.E. Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs, and The Hon. John Kerry, Special Envoy to the President of the United States for Climate, witnessed the announcement of several key initiatives.
The most notable of these announcements is the US endorsement to support the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and Indonesia’s State-Owned energy company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), on the massive blended finance Energy Transition Mechanism of early coal plant retirement proposed by WEF SDIP. The other key announcement include the creation of the world’s largest technology and engineering body, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers’ (IEEE) new initiative: “Engineers Unite in Diversity,” meant to galvanize scientists and engineers to expand collaboration and drive action in support of the transition to a low-carbon economy, as well as the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in both Indonesia and the broader Southeast Asian region.
Wednesday’s Tri Hita Karana High-Level Climate Forum “Aligning for Climate Action on Road to Net Zero Carbon Emission” builds on the US-led Biden Leaders’ Summit on Climate held in April of this year, which brought together 40 world leaders to spur-on efforts by the major economies to tackle the climate crisis. Since then, Indonesia and the United States have established four sectoral task forces with representation from government, technical experts, and private sector investors to develop concrete and deliverable outcomes in support of the transition to a low-carbon economy.
“We are grateful for the Biden administration’s focus on climate. The Government of Indonesia has already shown international leadership in this area through our commitment to protect one of the world’s largest intact rainforests, and some of the largest stocks of CO2-rich tropical peatland and mangrove,” said Coordinating Minister Luhut Pandjaitan. “We stand ready to do more to tackle the climate crisis the world is facing, and welcome the opportunity to collaborate with the US government and private sector to make the transition to a low-carbon economy. Indonesia is inviting the United States to jointly bring environmental issues and climate change to the G20 in 2022.” (Click here for Minister Luhut Pandjaitan’s Speech)
In his post-event tweet, Special Presidential Envoy John Kerry said “Minister Luhut of Indonesia and I want to make the world a better place for our grandkids. Thank you to the THK Climate Forum for the conversation today on how we can cooperate to accelerate climate action.” (Click here for Special Presidential Envoy John Kerry’s Speech)
The Tri Hita Karana (THK) Climate Forum was attended by more than 350 US and Indonesia-based participants from government, civil society, and the private sector. Remarks from Coordinating Minister Luhut Pandjaitan and Climate Envoy John Kerry emphasized the need for greater collaboration on green and blended finance, technology transfer, capacity building and government–private sector alliances to deliver on the target of limiting global warming’s effect to 1.5 Celsius.
THK Co-host H.E. Airlangga Hartarto , Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs, and prominent speakers and partners at the THK Climate Forum included: H.E. Suharso Monoarfa , Minister of National Development Planning; H.E. Arifin Tasrif , Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources; Wimboh Santoso, Chairman Indonesia Financial Services Authority; Prof Robert Kaplan, Senior fellow and the Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development, Emeritus, Harvard Business School; Satu Kahkonen, Country Director Indonesia World Bank; Reed Schuler, Senior Advisor to the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate; Larry McDonald , Assistant Secretary U.S. Department; John Morton, Climate Counselor U.S. Treasury Department; Alfred Scheidegger, Chairman of Nextech Invest; Darmawan Prasodjo, Vice President Director PLN; Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of ASEAN; and Haje Schutte , Senior Counsellor and Head, Financing for Sustainable Development Division, OECD. The event also featured millennial and indigenous voices from Dyah Roro Esti, the youngest elected Member of Parliament, and Meiliani Osok, a West Papuan Fellow of United In Diversity Foundation’s Youth Action Forum and SDSN SEA.
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About the Tri Hita Karana Forum
The Tri Hita Karana (THK) Forum is a coalition of government, local and global partners committed to pursuing ‘triple happiness’ through people, planet and spiritual harmony according Indonesian President Joko Widodo. The THK high-level Climate Forum on “Aligning for Climate Action on Road to Net Zero Carbon Emission” aims to demonstrate both countries’ commitment and advances made to jointly scale climate solutions to reach net zero for the well-being of people and planet.
About United In Diversity
United In Diversity (UID) Foundation host of SDSN Southeast Asia is a not-for-profit foundation with a mission to create a better common future through education and research, and to act as catalyst for trust-building across diverse stakeholders. These include aligning business, the public sector, and civil society toward sustainable development and happiness. UID collaborates closely with leading universities such as MIT (in IDEAS leadership program), Columbia University (UN SDSN), University of Indonesia, Tsinghua University, Harvard (Planetary Health), Institute of Technology Bandung (ITB), University of Udayana, et al. UID invites Tri sector leaders, youths and indigenous communities in a multi stakeholders System Thinking and U process to meet the sustainability and SDGs challenges in the era of the 4th industrial revolution and pandemic recovery.