Norway Pledges $1 Billion for Indonesia Climate, Council Says

May 17, 2010, 7:57 AM EDT

May 17 (Bloomberg) -- Norway plans to grant Indonesia $1 billion to help reduce forest degradation in the Southeast Asian country, Agus Purnomo, head of the secretariat of Indonesia’s National Climate Change Council, said today.By Achmad Sukarsono

“We have a deal which will be signed on May 27,” Purnomo said in a telephone interview. “The money has been allocated, the draft has been approved.” Details of the agreement will be announced at a May 27 signing, he said without elaborating.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said last year the government was targeting to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent by 2020 from “business as usual” levels, and as much as 41 percent with international support. Indonesia Jan. 31 filed a pledge to the United Nations to support the Copenhagen climate change agreement, including a plan to reduce the rate of deforestation, the country’s Foreign Ministry said.

Trees absorb carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas. Forest destruction accounts for more greenhouse emissions than all the world’s passenger cars, trucks and buses, according to the United Nations.

Indonesia trails China and the U.S. as the biggest carbon dioxide emitting nations, when greenhouse gases from deforestation and land-use changes are included, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Deforestation and forest degradation account for more than 83 percent of Indonesia’s carbon emissions, according to WWF.

--Editors: Greg Ahlstrand, Todd White

To contact the reporters on this story: Achmad Sukarsono in Jakarta at asukarsono@bloomberg.net