As elections near and candidates set, youth voters seek for substantial climate and environment agenda in their goals, missions and actions.
On October 19, 2023, the General Election Commission (KPU) officially opened presidential and vice presidential candidate registration for the 2024 elections. The younger generation ceased this deciding moment in the democratic process, urging candidates to make climate improvement a priority.
KPU said Millennials and Gen Z account for 55% – 60% of votes. The number is estimated to be more than 110 million people out of 204 million voters listed.
This dominance gives the younger generation the confidence to speak out and encourages candidates to listen to their aspirations.
Dian, a university student said 2024 presidential candidates must have a vision to solve climate problems. She is tired of increasingly hot temperatures and toxic air pollution.
“The presidential and vice presidential candidates who will compete are expected to handle these problems competently. The policies produced (by elected officials) will affect Earth’s future in both good and bad ways.”
“Generation Z and millennials are Indonesia’s future. We must express our aspirations so that presidential and vice presidential candidates will prioritize this climate issue,” he continued after a discussion entitled “Power Up Indonesia: Young People’s Movement Demanding Climate Commitment from Presidential Candidates” in Jakarta, Thursday (19/10/23).
Ginanjar Aryasuta, the coordinator of Climate Rangers Jakarta, believes that the demographic dividend must be followed by the ability to control the narrative of the 2024 elections. This prompted Aryasuta to initiate a movement called Power Up Indonesia, which included 28 organizations spread across 14 cities.
Power Up Indonesia demands presidential and vice presidential candidates declare a commitment to handling the climate crisis and a just energy transition. In addition, it demands concrete actions towards limiting the earth’s temperature below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“This is critical because none of the candidates have talked about the climate crisis and energy transition,” said Aryasuta in an interview with Ekuatorial.
He also urged presidential and vice presidential candidates not to include coal, oil, and gas industry players in their campaigns. This, he added, is to avoid ‘payback’ politics, which would worsen the climate crisis.
What Dian and Aryasuta demand from their candidates is in line with the study results of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios). The study titled “Towards an Energy Transition: The People’s Message to the Future President” found that Gen Z and millennials are most likely to think that the climate crisis is a real problem.
The study, published in September 2023, also categorized the younger generation as the majority of critical respondents: 24% of Gen Z and 46% of millennials stated that the government did not have policies to address the climate crisis.
On the topic of energy transition, Gen Z is more in favor of accelerating the retirement of coal-fired power plants (PLTU), followed by the use of clean energy in industrial zones and special tourist areas. Meanwhile, millennials mostly favor carbon tax acceleration.
Bhima Yudhistira, the director of Celios, said that the younger generation has arrived at a crucial moment in ensuring that the presidential and vice presidential candidates carry out programs to address the climate crisis.
Yudhistira believes the energy transition commitment can be seen in the mainstreaming of its topics, and policies in shifting incentives enjoyed by the fossil fuel sector, to support clean industries.
“So in this election, we have to push a big narrative from young people, that we are sick and tired of empty narratives,” said Yudhistira.
He added that the climate crisis narrative must be included in the candidates’ goals, missions, and action programs. Because, he continued, without all that, voters will not be able to hold their leaders accountable five years down the road. Whoever the elected president is.
Optimize youth’s power
Young people are more aware of climate crisis issues and this awareness is increasing. However, to turn that into actions and movements that hold power accountable, more action is needed.
Melki Sedek Huang, chairman of the Student Executive Board (BEM) of the University of Indonesia (UI) believes that the first step is to free climate from elitist diction. Huang believes the complicated discussion has made environmental and climate movements less attractive to them.
As a matter of fact, so many people have been affected by the impacts of the climate crisis.
Huang underlines the importance of strengthening the empirical awareness of the younger generation. This is because knowledge about environmental conditions and the climate crisis is not only found in scientific papers.
“Because those who deserve to talk about climate are not only educated people, or young people in urban areas. In fact, those far from the city are the most impacted.”
Andhyta Firselly Utami, co-initiator of BijakMemilih, explained several strategies to strengthen the younger generation’s awareness, especially concerning politics and environmentally oriented policies. For example, linking it to freedom of speech and corruption. In addition, shifting the focus from the individual to the system.
BijakMemilih is an online platform that aims to form a critical mass and ask politicians to provide better solutions, ideas, and policies.
“Because a legislative candidate’s individual power is limited, the space to differ from his party is also small. Even for presidential candidates. (But) now, it’s only the individual discussed,” said Utami, publicly known as AFU, an abbreviation of her full name.
Another strategy is to simplify keywords in climate and energy transition topics. “I think air pollution is a good momentum because we feel it directly. Compared to PLTU, if you never see the form, it’s difficult to relate,” she continued.
Afu hopes that through these strategies, the younger generation can push the government to make climate policies based on scientific evidence, before deciding their political stance. Not the other way around.