Yogyakarta, August 5th 2022─Entering its fourth series, the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISPOL) UGM again held a series of FGDs or Focus Group Discussions on Friday (5/8). This discussion forum was held as a result of collaboration between the Institute of International Studies (IIS), the Department of International Relations UGM, and UP3M (Research, Publication, and Community Service Unit) FISIPOL. In this fourth series, the speakers discussed an important topic in Indonesia’s G20 Presidency, “Energy Diversification and the Challenges of the Transition to Clean Energy Amid Political Realism (Geo)”. The speakers and moderators involved in this FGD were Sularsih, Coordinator of Oil and Gas Cooperation of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources; Muhammad Takdir, Head of the Center for Policy Strategy for the Asia Pacific and Africa Region, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Elrika Hamdi, Energy Finance Analyst, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA); Dr. Nanang Indra Kurniawan, Department of Politics and Government UGM; and Raras Cahyafitri, M.Sc, Department of International Relations UGM.
The energy transition itself is indeed one of the priority issues in the G20 Presidency. The discussion in this FGD then began by mapping out the background of the energy transition agenda in Indonesia’s G20 Presidency, including opportunities and challenges. Sularsih said that “Indonesia in the G20 Presidency needs to encourage cooperation in energy transition and implementation of cleaner technologies.” The discussion continued with a presentation by Muhammad Takdir. “The largest users of the energy sector are for residential and transportation purposes, meaning the general public,” Takdir said. This fact caused the energy transition agenda to encounter various problems. Muhammad Takdir also underlined the importance of changing the paradigm, namely making energy as an asset that must be maintained instead of a mere commodity. Meanwhile, Elrika Hamdi, an analyst from IEEFA, emphasized that energy financing is an important resource for the realization of the energy transition.
This series of FGDs will take place in five series and the outputs of the discussions will be used as material for the preparation of policy papers. Further information regarding the FGD agenda can be accessed on IIS UGM social media (@iis_ugm).