Renewable energy became an essential issue in G20 meetings due to the reality of climate change in recent decades. The campaign of the energy transition is one of the efforts to change energy resources from fossil fuel and coal to renewable energy by utilizing natural resources. Based on natural energy, which is solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, ocean energy, and bioenergy, it is expected to replace the existence of fossil fuels (un.org. 2022). Climate change was rising rapidly at the same time as industrial activity. The five major countries that produced the highest greenhouse gas emissions are part of the G20, namely China, the US, India, Russia, and Japan, and are also attending the G20 meeting (worldpopulationreview.com, 2022). Initiation to reduce gas emissions in each industry’s activity was published a long time ago. For instance, in the Paris Agreement and Kyoto Protocol, and also in the G20 meeting in 2016, through the G20 Voluntary Action Plan on Renewable Energy, member states volunteered their effort to cut gas emissions at a domestic level. In the 17th G20 meeting, the Indonesian presidency brought the energy transition urgency again to the table.
However, the notion of protecting environmental issues was mentioned many times and still has not shown significant progress. The dimension of rational choice in economic development in each country emphasizes their being more rational in order to fulfill their goal in the global market. It is affected by the industrial activity that produces gas emissions and climate change. Indonesia and many emerging countries around the globe are sounding to cut off emission production by choosing alternative energy to protect our planet. Wistfully, it shows the paradox of environmental protection. Although G20 member countries commit to reducing gas emissions, the action of each country is “voluntary.” It means state members are given a free choice to either take the actions or not in order to fulfill a “voluntary” movement. The obstacle to implementing a renewable energy transition is not only in the ambiguous concept of voluntary. Moreover, the renewable energy transition is facing various challenges, such as technical issues for facilities, public mindset, and the national interest in economic strategy and policy.
Discussion
The concept of rational choice is inherent to economic activity and, indeed, crucial for environmental policy. Rational choice theory (hereafter RCT) is insightful in analyzing the phenomenon of the connection between politics and environmental policy. From this perspective, each individual tried to quantify the payoff, either beneficial or lost for them. In other words, a rational actor will take action based on maximizing their payoff or limiting their losses (Toke, 2000). When we discuss the G20, it explains that this multilateral platform has characteristics of economic cooperation. Which means as a bridge between major economic power and emerging economic power, stresses on global health architecture, sustainable energy transition, and digital transformation (g20.org.2022). The major actors were the US, China, Japan, and the EU. Those countries are regrouping on multilateral cooperation through the grand goal of the G20. Additionally, India and Russia are part of G20 memberships that produced the highest amount of gas emissions after China and the US. The energy transition campaign’s ambiguity shows major countries’ dependency on fossil fuels and coal to produce energy. Major countries like the US and China are mostly dominated by gas and coal resources for domestic energy stability (ourworldindata.org, 2021).
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According to a world population review, China, the US, India, Russia, and Japan have the highest greenhouse gas emissions. For instance, China shows a significant amount of fossil fuel used from 2000, around 11,085 terawatt hours (TWh) to 35,000 TWh in 2021. The US has utilized fossil fuel for a long time and is still on track in terms of leading fossil fuel energy uses, from around 23,225 TWh in 2000 to 21,017 TWh; Japan, from 5,036 TWh in 2000 to 4,206 TWh; Russia, from 6,358 TWh to 7,557 TWh; and India, from 3,446 TWh in 2000 to 8,815 TWh in 2021 (ourworldindata.org, 2021). Although the quantity of fossil fuel used is varied, the amount of this resource is still higher. India and China are raising their need for fossil fuels for the industry.
The ambiguity of renewable energy policy in the G20
Toke, in his book titled Green Politics and Neoliberalism, said, “According to RCT, collective action failure (and also market failure) arises because even though an individual may recognize that there is an environmental problem, they will not contribute to its resolution because the personal cost of doing so will be larger than the personal benefit that is derived from their own personal contribution to the solution.” From Toke’s argument, we can assume that awareness of environmental issues and the desire to use renewable energy at the state level were in the minds of each decision-maker, but their action was biased due to the profit mindset. The ambiguity of renewable energy policy is not only in technology limitations and policy barriers but also in sociocultural and technical matters (Sen & Ganguly, 2017).
First, market failure. It means when the industry process does not meet the requirements of external standards and the business undergoes failure, it is connected to external demand with neither benefit nor cost. When external demand is high, it stimulates domestic industry activity and impacts the production process. In fact, the domestic industry does not really invest in renewable energy because of technology limitations or price. Second, information and awareness. Those aspects are crucial to implementing renewable energy. For example, wind turbines can be applied based on topography issues. In some regions that do not have a suitable environment to build wind turbines, it cannot be applicable for renewable energy implementation (Petersen et al. p. 55. 1997). Geothermal energy obstacle in the proper delineation of the reservoir. Skilled human resources are also a challenge to apply RE, especially in developing countries like Indonesia; it is affected by the high maintenance and management of RE technology. Moreover, the financial and technical aspects of the wide scope of energy transition from fossil fuel to RE. Institution and public awareness are still low. It is relevant to the fourth factor of RE implementation, which is sociocultural barriers. RE facilities such as dams for hydropower are possible to hide multiple lands and degrade the effectiveness of potential areas. The tension of the public near facilities is rising due to the low awareness and limited information about RE. Many people who stay near the RE facilities demand compensation due to land transformation utilization. Fifth, the next challenge is the policy barrier, reflected in Indonesia’s electricity institution called PLN, which is the one and only authority to manage the supply of energy. This fact raised the barrier to RE implementation at the domestic level caused by centralized authority and energy monopoly (Sen & Ganguly, 2017).
At an international level, such as the G20, the most ambiguous implementation RE transitions are the carbon tax and voluntary concepts in the energy transition. Climatically, a carbon tax is not really effective in reducing global warming. For instance, the US contributes about 0.19 degrees Celsius of the total 2.96-degree Celsius temperature rise globally, and the US paid for nothing due to the rising temperature being a collective effort by entire people around the globe (Knappenberger, 2012). In other words, no matter how much you pay, gas emissions are still produced by the other side. To bring this statement to the case, we can see the ambiguous phenomenon when China is raising its industrial activity in order to produce goods for the US market. Furthermore, Australia launched a carbon tax policy at the same time as a “mega-mine” policy to boost its mining activity to fulfill coal exports in global trade. The UK gave a tax break to boost oil and gas recovery for Chinese factories. Last but not least, Germany, with the green national title in international politics, asks Saudi Arabia and the OPEC nations to produce more and more oil; according to journalist George Monbiot, nations are trying simultaneously to “reduce demand for fossil fuels and increase supply” (theguardian.com, 2013).
As a result, the voluntary concept of reducing gas emissions in each G20 state member is ambiguous. As we already have seen, voluntary is non-legal banding, which means each country does not have an obligation to take action in terms of tackling climate change. It shows a few countries like China, the US, and India still using fossil fuels and coal to fulfill their energy demands. According to Statista.co, India’s coal consumption from 1998 to 2021 rose significantly, and it’s experienced by China too. Although the US is using coal for its energy resources, it tends to be low, but the US consumption of fossil fuels is high (Statista.com, 2020). Germany and the EU are still focusing on fossil fuel uses for energy and industry. Moreover, Saudi Arabia, also part of the G20, still produces fossil fuels and sells them in the global market as demand from developing countries.
