City Collaborates to Launch 'Jakarta Clean Air Partnership' Program

We're proud to partner with Bloomberg Philanthropies and Vital Strategies to make clean air a priority for Jakarta people

Jakarta Provincial Government, in collaboration with Bloomberg Philanthropies and Vital Strategies as implementing partners, inaugurated a collaborative commitment titled Jakarta Clean Air Partnership virtually, on Wednesday (9/23).

"Jakarta Clean Air Partnership" is a program to tackle air pollution in Jakarta through increasing the availability and use of air quality data, analyzing policy solutions and their effectiveness and promoting public awareness of the impact of air pollution on health.

This July, LH Holds Free Emission Tests in Jakarta

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan, who also opened the inauguration, expressed his appreciation for this cooperation. He stated, clean air was a priority for the people of Jakarta thus it needed a comprehensive handling.

"Air pollution is a complex problem, requires a multi-sectoral approach and it is necessary for us to collaborate both internationally and domestically because the problem of air pollution is increasingly urgent, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. We're proud to partner with Bloomberg Philanthropies and Vital Strategies to make clean air a priority for Jakarta people," he expressed, as quoted by Jakarta PPID's press release, Wednesday (9/23).

He went on to say that the cooperation would focus on improving air quality in Jakarta over the next two years. As part of the collaborative commitment, the document 'Towards Clean Air for Jakarta' had also been signed, which highlighted current efforts to reduce air pollution and a series of policy recommendations.

"This document is a formal agreement that will remind us of the main pillars in controlling air pollution in three aspects, namely science, policy and communication," he expressed.

In this partnership program, the partners would also work with various local and international stakeholders from academia, non-government organizations, think tanks and civil society. We also launched https://jakarta.cleanair.id/ as a forum to provide evidence-based information to the people about the sources, impacts and solutions of air pollution.

Bloomberg Philanthropies and Bloomberg LP Founder Michael R. Bloomberg, said that air quality correlated with economic growth.

"When I was Mayor of New York, we saw clean air not only improving public health, it also enhancing economic growth and environmental sustainability and managing challenges like air pollution requires the ability to know the source," he told.

He also said that his partnership with the Jakarta Provincial Government would help Jakarta track pollution and develops policies to reduce air pollution.

"Together we develop an example that other cities in Asia and other cities can use," continued the former mayor of New York.

On that occasion, Environmental Health Division Vital Strategies Vice President Daniel Kass disclosed that there was no instant fix to improve air quality.

"We start from knowing more about the source of pollutants, the health and social impacts on society, as well as the potential benefits of reducing emissions of a sector, which is very important to find better and cost-effective solutions. We are pleased to collaborate with Jakarta to design a strategy to improve the capital's air quality through solid science, policy and strategic communication that is sustainable and effective," he admitted.

While Jakarta Environment Agency Head Andono Warih uttered that this cooperation was important to improve air quality in Jakarta.

"Air quality management will be more optimal if it is processed in an integrated manner by combining regulation, awareness and capacity building and partnerships of stakeholders including academia, society and NGOs to jointly contribute to improving air quality. This is proof of our commitment to a cleaner Jakarta air," he expressed.

He explained that this partnership built on various stakeholder workshops that had been conducted since 2019 to raise government and public awareness of air pollution as a critical public health issue as part of the aim of reducing PM2.5 pollution and increasing transparency on the issue of air pollution.

As for the information, the city government has ratified Gubernatorial Regulation number 66/2020 on Motor Vehicle Emission Test in July 2020 and is currently drafting revisions related to Emission Quality Standards for Immovable Sources and revision of ISPU by including PM2.5 parameters in the calculation.

Previously, in August 2019, the city also issued Governor Call number 66 on Air Quality Control, where there are 7 (seven) actions to control air pollution, namely:

1. Ensuring that public transport vehicles are not more than 10 years old and pass the emission test and rejuvenate all public transports through Jak Lingko program by 2020

2. Expanding odd-even policies and increasing parking rates in areas served by mass public transport in 2019, as well as the implementation of a congestion pricing policy that is linked to air quality control in 2021

3. Tightening the emission test provisions for all private vehicles and ensure that no private vehicle over 10 years old operate in Jakarta area by 2025

4. Encouraging the shift to public transportation modes and improve walking comfort through accelerated construction of pedestrian facilities and links to mass public transport by 2020

5. Tightening control over sources of immovable pollutants, especially in active industrial chimneys starting in 2019

6. Optimizing greening of public facilities and infrastructure by holding plants with high pollutant absorption starting in 2019 and encouraging the adoption of green building principles by all buildings

7. Pioneering the switch to renewable energy and reducing dependence on fossil fuels by installing rooftop solar panels in all school buildings, local government buildings and local government health facilities