Charting Methane Emissions from Indonesia's Coal Mines
Indonesia is the world’s third-largest coal producer, after China and India. Its national coal sector is expanding rapidly, marked with record-breaking production levels over the past two years. Consequently, methane emissions from coal mining are rising and are the fastest growing emission sub-category within the energy sector.
As a signatory of the Global Methane Pledge (GMP), Indonesia has committed to “take comprehensive domestic actions to achieve global reduction of methane emissions by 2030”. Yet Indonesia has not developed any comprehensive action plans to tackle methane emissions. Furthermore, independent studies suggest that the country’s coal mine methane emissions are significantly underreported.
The analysis of Indonesia’s coal mine methane (CMM) emissions reporting framework reveals significant issues. These include a lack of data transparency, the use of inaccurate emissions factors and outdated conversion factors for methane’s global warming potential, and the neglect of emissions from underground coal mines.
Improving the monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) system is a critical first step to address these issues. Inaccurate reporting risks misallocation of resources meant for mitigating methane emissions and undermines the integrity of national emissions data as well as the credibility of Indonesia’s international commitment. International support is available to help offset the costs associated with improving the on-site measurement of coal mine methane. These opportunities could be greatly enhanced by implementing a number of short-term changes outlined in this report, before Indonesia’s next biennial report to the UNFCCC.
Wildfires vs Coal Mines
Future CMM emissions in Indonesia could potentially reach 1007 kt CH4 per year, taking into account all measurement adjustments and the projected rise in coal production. This is equal to 30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2), which is more than the emissions from 200 thousand hectares (ha) of forest and land fires in 2022.