Carbon Tax Policy

Kontan.co.id wrote about the government which is still working on a carbon tax policy. Observers warn that setting a lower carbon tax could make entrepreneurs look less at carbon exchanges. Last year the government set a carbon tax for coal plants worth IDR 30 per kilogram of Co2 Equivalent (Co2e) or the equivalent of IDR 30,000 per ton of Co2e. This provision is in accordance with the mandate of Law Number 7 of 2021 concerning Harmonization of Tax Regulations which will come into effect on April 1 2022. The carbon tax worth IDR 30,000 per ton of Co2e is certainly much cheaper than the price per unit of carbon at IDXCarbon which is as of Friday (6 /10) worth IDR 69,900 per unit (ton Co2e). Executive Director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), Fabby Tumiwa, explained that if there is a difference between the carbon tax value and the carbon price on the stock exchange, without clear regulations, then entities may choose the cheaper option. Currently, carbon exchange trading is still quiet. Based on the Daily Trading Report on the official IDXCarbon website, on Friday (6/10) there were no recorded transactions from 17 existing service users. In implementing the carbon exchange, no company is obliged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Previously, the government had just announced that the sector that was required to reduce GHG with clear upper emission limits was the electricity sector which includes 99 PLTU units.

 

Kumparan.com wrote about the German government approving the re-operation of steam power plants that use coal from October to the end of March 2024. Even though Germany is one of the many countries in Europe that previously used clean energy. The German Economy Ministry said this step was taken as an effort to avoid shortages and replace natural gas, which is in short supply in the winter. Germany is also experiencing a shortage of natural gas due to a sudden decrease in natural gas imports from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. Even though gas supplies since last winter have begun to flow smoothly with the delivery of a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, there are still plans for coal power plants to be reactivated. The German government will make proposals next summer on how to offset the increase in carbon dioxide produced by the power plants this winter.