Deforestation poses a bigger problem for the climate than burning coal in Indonesia, a senior executive from the Southeast Asian country’s infrastructure investment arm said at the 11th ASEAN and Asia Forum (AAF) in Singapore. Harold Tjiptadjaja, the managing director and chief investment officer of Indonesia Infrastructure Finance (IFF), said that 10 years ago, there was little scrutiny of the environmental impact of deforestation driven by agribusiness sectors such as the palm oil industry, but the sector’s role in producing greenhouse gases linked to climate change is now a spotlight issue. Indonesia’s biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, is the country’s carbon-rich peatlands, vast areas of which have been drained and burned to make way for plantations, said the boss of IIF, which was set up by Indonesia’s Ministry of Finance, World Bank and Asian Development Bank to ensure the sustainability of infrastructure development in Indonesia.

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