LONDON (Reuters – Indonesia’s finance minister said Tuesday that the country could eliminate its coal-fired power plant by 2040 if they receive sufficient financial assistance from the international communities.

It is home to the fourth-largest population in the world and the eighth largest greenhouse gas emitter. Coal accounts for approximately 65% of this energy mix. The country is the largest coal exporter in the world.

During her trip to Glasgow, Sri Mulyani indrawati informed Reuters that Indonesia would announce details on Wednesday about its plans for cleaner energy. The key topic being the elimination of coal.

In Indonesia’s previous statements, the country stated it intended to eliminate coal-based electricity production by 2056. This was part of its goal to have net zero carbon emission by 2060.

Sri Mulyani stated, “If we want to push forward until 2040 then we must have funding to retire coal sooner and build new capacities of renewable energy.”

This is what’s now at the heart of the issue, and as finance minister I’m now calculating the cost to remove coal from the ground earlier. She asked, “How much will it cost?”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week told the UK parliament https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-10-27/debates/C4BFA71C-9BE2-445C-9C8C-8C75D39AA5BE/Engagements that President Joko Widodo had said Indonesia is going to bring forward its target to phase out coal to 2040.

Indonesia has not yet confirmed such an agreement.

Sri Mulyani explained to Reuters, that meeting this target required financial support from multilateral organizations, the private sector, and developing countries.

She said that retiring coal too early in Indonesia will not only cost us but also the people and the industry.

It won’t work if this was all to be paid for with my tax dollars. Now the world wants to know what they can do to assist Indonesia.

The plans to announce Indonesia’s climate targets on Wednesday were not just rhetorical, but technical. She stated that she was “very excited” by the ideas of the Asian Development Bank as well as other financial institutions.

Indonesia has said it will need to invest $150 billion to $200 billion per year https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/indonesia-needs-200-bln-annual-investment-2021-2030-decarbonise-govt-2021-10-13 in low carbon programmes over the next nine years to meet its goal to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2060 or earlier.