Indonesia has a long way to go in terms of decoupling economic and carbon growth

Although the government's COVID-19 mobility limitations may have lowered carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2020, previous crises have shown that emissions tend to rebound when the economy recovers.

According to data provided in March by the Global Carbon Project (GCP), an international collaboration of climate experts, the country's CO2 emissions are expected to decrease by 10% to 558.9 million tonnes by 2020.

The figure represents the steepest drop since at least 2013, when the economy weakened as a result of government fuel subsidy cuts and the consequences of the US Federal Reserve's tight monetary policy.

Last year's reduction in CO2 emissions was due to the most draconian public mobility restrictions when they were originally implemented in April.