353: Who Will Pay? | The Unfair Economics of Climate Finance
Indonesia is one of the world’s largest coal exporters, and it has every natural resource it needs to transition to clean energy. This week we look at why the international finance system is making the transition harder for developing countries and we ask, who pays?
About this episode
This week we acknowledge the US strikes on Iran and the escalation that has followed. The immediate human cost is what matters most right now. But this crisis is unfolding within a global system still shaped by oil markets and fossil fuel dependence - a dependence that amplifies regional instability and turns it into global vulnerability.
The same structural tensions sit at the heart of this week’s conversation, recorded before these events.
Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country, one of its largest coal exporters, and a nation with every natural resource it needs to transition to clean energy. The problem isn't will, it’s money. Who it's available to, and on what terms.
Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac and Paul Dickinson are joined by Sri Mulyani Indrawati - Indonesia's former Finance Minister under three different presidents, former Managing Director of the World Bank, and one of the most credible voices in the world on exactly this set of challenges. She walks through what it actually costs to retire a single coal plant years ahead of schedule, why developing countries find themselves trapped by contracts they signed in good faith, and why the international finance system is making the transition harder, not easier.
Countries like Indonesia borrow at far higher rates than wealthier economies, even as they face greater exposure to climate impacts. When that exposure feeds into credit ratings, the cost of capital rises - making clean energy investment more expensive precisely where it is most urgently needed.
In a system that makes decarbonisation harder for the countries most vulnerable to climate impacts, who pays?
Learn More:
🏭 Explore Global Energy Monitor's coal plant tracker for Indonesia's existing and planned capacity
🎧 Listen to our interview with Prime Minister Mia Motley
🏦 Learn about the Bridgetown Agenda and its proposals to reform international development finance
🎤 Leave us your voice notes and questions for upcoming episodes on SpeakPipe
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Producer: Ben Weaver-Hincks
Edited by: Miles Martignoni
Planning: Caitlin Hanrahan
Exec Producer: Ellie Clifford
This is a Persephonica production for Global Optimism and is part of the Acast Creator Network.
