Indonesia’s Legal Position on the London Protocol Amendment for Cross-Border Carbon Capture and Storage
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53639/ijssr.v7i3.423Keywords:
London Protocol, Marine Pollution Law, Law of the Sea, Carbon Capture and Storage, Treaty RatificationAbstract
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects in Indonesia face a fundamental international law problem: Article 6 of the 1996 London Protocol prohibits the cross-border export of carbon dioxide, a bar removable only through the 2009 amendment and the provisional application mechanism under Resolution LP.5(14) of 2019. Indonesia's position remains unsettled. Presidential Regulation No. 14 of 2024 permits cross-border carbon transport up to 30 percent of a site's storage capacity, yet Indonesia is still not a Contracting Party to the London Convention or Protocol. This paper examines arguments for and against Indonesia ratifying the London Protocol and its 2009 amendment, and the implications for legal certainty in cross-border cooperation, particularly with Singapore. Employing normative legal research with statutory, conceptual, and comparative approaches, grounded in international regime and compliance theory, the study finds that Indonesia presents an anomaly: a non-party operating a progressive domestic CCS regime. Its novelty lies in mapping this position, which international energy law literature has not examined closely. The contribution is a balanced framework for policymakers weighing accession and ratification against bilateral agreements, the route taken by Belgium and Denmark.
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