Environmental Sustainability: UK-Indonesia Collaboration

Debate between Kerry McCarthy and Sarah Dyke

Tuesday 23rd June 2026 Westminster Hall

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered UK-Indonesia collaboration on environmental sustainability.

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Sir Jeremy. I am also pleased to see the Minister for the Indo-Pacific in her place; I did want this to be an Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office debate, even though the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was also answering questions this week, because, while my focus will be on environmental issues, this is also about our broader relationship with a country that is increasingly important to us.

Indonesia is the fourth-largest country in the world by population, behind India, China and the US. It is the largest south-east Asian economy, and the only one in the G20. It has seen steady—rather than spectacular—economic growth in recent years. While it does not currently account for a huge part of our trade, there is much potential. The UK-Indonesia economic partnership was launched earlier this year, and I gather that negotiations for a full trade deal are on the cards. So economically, it matters to us.

Indonesia is also one of the most environmentally important countries in the world. It has vast tropical rainforests, deep peatlands, iconic species such as the orangutan, the Sumatran tiger, elephants and the Komodo dragon, and amazing biodiversity in the waters and reefs around its 17,000 islands. It absorbs more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than the UK and USA emit combined. Healthy peat stores huge quantities of carbon but, if drained, it will start to release carbon, making it contribute negatively. Forest loss also leads to major CO₂ output annually.

[Sarah Dyke (Glastonbury and Somerton) (LD)]

I thank the hon. Member for bringing forward this important debate. As she is setting out, peatlands store more carbon than all the world’s forests combined, whether that be on the Somerset levels in my constituency or in the rainforests of Borneo, and their destruction accelerates the climate crisis. Does she agree that, rather than cutting climate funding, the Government should be investing in bilateral peatland partnerships, sharing our British expertise to protect these irreplaceable global carbon stores?

[Kerry McCarthy]

I certainly think that peatlands are incredibly important. It has been one of my frustrations that we put so much emphasis on forests, and on the UK on planting trees—like a race to how many millions of trees each party can pledge to plant—whereas, as the hon. Member says, the carbon sequestration impact of peatlands is greater. We need to do much more to protect them, including, I would say, banning horticultural peat, which I know she has campaigned long and hard for.

I will come on to the question of climate finance later, but I will say that we are in a world in which public money is under severe constraints. The USA, for example, has pulled out of its commitments under COP. I want to see a lot more done to use public money, and philanthropic money, as a catalyst to leverage in far more private sector funding, including through things such as the voluntary carbon and nature markets, so that we can get that finance into protecting our forests, our peatlands and, indeed, our marine environment, which I will touch on a bit later as well.