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CO2 Emissions, Climate Finance, and IFRS S2: What You Need to Know?

 

Indonesian Climate Change and CO2 Emission 

The world is getting hotter because of fossil emissions everywhere. Many countries with rapid economic activity and economic growth cause a rapid increase in CO2 emissions without realizing it (Hadad, 2023). CO2 emissions are the burning of fossil fuels and factories that produce carbon dioxide (produced while consuming solid, liquid, liquefied gas and combustion gas) (Sasana, Kusuma, & Setyaningsih, 2019, p. 1). This can be seen from the extreme weather that has occurred recently. These extreme weather events are related to frequent climate changes, such as El Nino, heat waves, floods, and forest fires. This period was recorded as producing the hottest temperature degrees ever (including Indonesia, which also experienced it). So, more than 200 countries were asked about their plans to reduce emissions by 2030 to keep global warming well below 2C and target 1.5C to avoid disaster (this is part of the content of the Paris Agreement). This also applies to Indonesia, which envisioned achieving net zero emissions by 2050 (Hadad, 2023).

 


Fig 1 : Global Fossil CO2 Emissions 

Source : Nature Climate Change

The increase in the growth value of CO2 emissions shows that the value has increased after adopting the Paris Climate Agreement for approximately five years. This is also the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has changed the trajectory of CO2 emissions globally. The impacts of activities that use fossil fuels require special attention regarding new policies on maintaining existing activities without causing CO2 emissions. The data in Figure 1 Part A shows that there has been a decrease in CO2 emissions (fossil emissions, to be precise) of 34GtCO2 with a total decrease of 2.6GtCO2 in 2020. This decrease is estimated to be caused by the actions and policies taken. Implemented during a pandemic to reduce the speed of the virus' spread COVID-19. The reduction value is estimated to be around 7% below the value stated in 2019. Based on analysis by The Global Carbon Project, reducing CO2 emissions to a value of 2.6 GtCO2 is rare because it has never happened before. However, to avoid warming of between 1.5 °C to well below 2 °C, a reduction of 1–2GtCO2 per year is needed. This is the content of the Paris Agreement's ambition to address climate change caused by human activities ( Quéré , et al., 2021,p. 197).

Overall, 99 countries in the upper middle-income group contributed 51% of global emissions in 2019. Also, countries included in this group experienced the most significant increase in emissions, namely 30%, with average growth in 2005 and 2019. Moreover, Indonesia is one of the countries with upper-middle income ( Quéré , et al., 2021, p. 198).




Fig 2 : Global Fossil CO2 Emissions 

Source : Nature Climate Change

As seen in Figure 2, out of a total of 99 countries in the upper middle-income group, there are approximately 30 countries that recorded a reduction in global emissions during 2016–2019 compared to 2011–2015. This shows that many countries are paying attention to this field, in the sense that they work together to reduce global emissions that occur in their country. Interestingly, the many laws and policies regarding climate change (more than 2,000 laws worldwide) were essential in limiting emissions growth in the last five years before COVID-19, namely a decrease of 0,000—8GtCO2 (−5%) in 2020 (Figure 1, Part B) ( Quéré , et al., 2021, p. 199).


Climate Financing

In addition to impacting everyone's well-being and health, climate change also affects the economy and financial systems (Giglio, Kelly, & Stroebel, 2021, p. 16) Therefore, financial economics also teaches how to manage and assess risks that may occur in the future. So that in the future, this knowledge can help society predict and respond to risks that may arise due to climate change. One of the fuels that is very important for the continuity of activities in the world is the use of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are a vital material in production. Moreover, economic growth will always be accompanied by increased production. So, this economic growth results in an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions then cause climate change. However, on the other hand, without realizing it, climate change has the potential to provide sizeable negative feedback on future economic activity.

Climate change funding, according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is "funding whether local, national or transnational financing originating from government funding, international organizations, banks, capital markets, the business world, public, private and development banks multilateral to support mitigation and adaptation efforts to climate change. This effort can be made by making an economic transition with low carbon emissions. The government, companies, and households must complete this joint task (Hong, Karolyi, & Scheinkman, 2020, p. 1011). Apart from that, Climate Finance also involves financing projects, programs, and initiatives. So, it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote renewable energy, increase energy efficiency, and build resilience to the impacts of climate change. Then, these funds are channeled through international climate funds, green bonds, and climate-focused investment funds (Hadad, 2023).


IFRS S2

IFRS S2 is a newly published standard effective for annual periods starting on or after January 1, 2024. IFRS S2 aims to require an entity to disclose information regarding risks and opportunities due to the impact of climate change. This is useful for people who use its financial reports to make decisions regarding the availability of resources for the entity's units. In this case, IFRS S2 requires entities to provide cash flows, access to funding, or costs of entities' capital in the short, medium, or long term affected by climate change. In particular, IFRS S2 applies to the risk of climate change impacts in the form of physical threat, transition risk, and the resilience of a company's strategy and business model to climate-related changes, developments, and uncertainties (IFRS Sustainability, 2023).


Conclusion

        The existence of IFRS S2 helps many entities to continue carrying out production while still considering its impact on the climate. Increased economic growth is characterized, among other things, by increased production and economic activity in a country. This is what causes climate change. Climate change has many impacts that we can immediately feel right now. One of them is increasing temperature or air temperature. This is a CO2 emission that is felt globally. On the other hand, climate change threatens people's health and welfare without realizing it. One solution we can do is use climate finance. The funding provides material contributions and pays attention to its impact on climate change. This is closely related to the presence of IFRS S2, released in June 2023. In the future, these solutions will help a country to grow without causing excessive emissions impacts. Instead, They will tend to lead to a global reduction in emissions in line with Indonesia's target, which has just exceeded the Net Zero Emissions target by 2050.


 

References 

Giglio, S., Kelly, B., & Stroebel, J. (2021). Annual Review of Financial Economics. The Annual Review of Financial Economics.

Hadad, M. D. (2023). Principle of Sustainable Finance & Global Update. Jawa Barat: Sustainable Finance Public Lecture Series-FEB UIII.

Hong, H., Karolyi, G. A., & Scheinkman, J. A. (2020). Climate Finance. Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies.

IFRS Sustainability. (2023). IFRS S2 - Sustainability Disclosure Standard: Accompanying Guidance on Climate-related Disclosures. INternational Sustainability Standards Board.

Sasana, H., Kusuma, P., & Setyaningsih, Y. (2019). The Impact of CO2 Gas Emissions on Government Expenditure of Health Sector in Indonesia. ICENIS.

Quéré , C. L., Peters, G. P., Friedlingstein, P., Andrew, R. M., Canadel, J. G., Davis, S. J., Jones, M. W. (2021). Fossil CO2 emissions in the post-COVID-19 era. Nature Climate Change.

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