Indonesia’s JETP energy transition plans hit a snag: Indonesia's plans for the early retirement of coal-fired power plants as part of its Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) initiative have come to a halt as its Western partners are not ready to finance the project, Reuters reports. The country had planned on announcing a USD 20 bn climate fund plan in October, but talks with international partners were delayed due to rising borrowing costs. Some of the prospective investors were reluctant to finance the early retirement of coal power plants so as not to be seen as financing coal projects. Under JETP, Indonesia is set to cap the power sector's carbon emissions at 290 mn metric tons by 2030.

One of the world’s largest carbon emitters: Indonesia — which has set out a target of sourcing 23% of its energy needs from renewables by 2025 under 2060 carbon neutrality plans — remains the world’s third largest coal mining country, producing some 600 mn tons of CO2 equivalent annually, making it the ninth largest carbon emitter globally, according to the International Energy Agency. Indonesia — which saw its coal burning levels increase 33% y-o-y in 2022 — had agreed to cap emissions from its energy sector to 290 mn metric tons by 2030 under the the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) following commitments by western nations lead by the United States and Japan, who had committed to providing climate financing including equity investments, grants and concessional loans, Reuters notes. Indonesia inked a separate agreement with the Asian Development Bank back in November to decommission a 660 MW coal plant in West Java through refinancing of between USD 250-350 mn.

Tanzania's NMB Bank is issuing a 10-year, multi-currency, medium-term sustainability bond worth USD 400 mn to fund renewable energy, energy efficiency, green transport, and waste-water treatment projects, the bank said in a regulatory statement (pdf). Supported by FSD Africa, which promotes financial inclusivity in the region, the bonds will have a three-year tenor and an annual interest rate of 9.5% to be paid quarterly, and will be on sale until 27 October. The first tranche of the Jamii bond is expected to raise approximately USD 30 mn, with an additional USD 10 mn if demand permits. The bond sale will also raise USD 10 mn from offshore private investors, with an additional USD 5 mn raised if there is appropriate investor demand.

REMEMBER- This launch follows the move of another Tanzanian commercial bank, CRDB Bank, kicked off its USD 300 mn green bond issuance program last month.

Tajikistan aims to produce 1 mn tonnes of clean hydrogen by 2040: Tajikistan plans to capitalize on its estimated 527 TWh hydroelectric energy capacity as well as other renewable sources to produce up to 500k tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030, before doubling its planned generation volumes to 1 mn tonnes by 2040, the country’s Energy and Water Resources Minister Daler Juma told Reuters on Monday, without specifying the state’s budget for its green fuels production strategy. The country plans to expand its renewable energy capacity to 10 GW by 2030 as part of plans to become a green fuel exporter and minimize dependency on Russian oil imports, the newswire quotes Juma as saying. The country will leverage its “affordable, competitive electric power” from future clean energy projects to export up to 75% of its low-carbon hydrogen to other Central Asian countries. Tajikistan wants to have solar and wind comprise up to 10% of its energy mix by 2030 in a bid to diversify its electric power sources.

OTHER STORIES WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THIS MORNING-

• Japan in talks to export captured CO2 to Malaysia for the first time: Japan is looking to strike an agreement with Malaysia to export and store its industrial and power CO2 emissions in the Southeast Asian country starting 2028. The MoU is scheduled to be signed in a meeting between Japanese Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura and executives from the Malaysian state oil company Petronas, on the sidelines of Tokyo GX Week. (Nikkei)
• KoBold Metals to accelerate search for key minerals needed for green transition: California-based KoBold Metals is spending about USD 150 mn to accelerate its search for more mineral deposits at its existing project in Mingomba, Zambia. It also plans to begin producing copper and cobalt in Zambia within 10 years. KoBold is backed by bn’aires Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. (Reuters)