Dr Muhammad Al Jasser, chairman of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, spent four days in Jakarta, from 7 to 10 October 2026. The IsDB is a development bank owned by 57 mostly Muslim countries. It pays for roads, hospitals and farms using Islamic finance rules, which avoid interest.

He left behind a five-year plan worth billions of dollars. It is a useful plan with one large hole. In a country that is among the most exposed to climate change, the plan has no climate pillar.

He left behind a five-year plan worth billions of dollars. It is a useful plan with one large hole. In a country that is among the most exposed to climate change, the plan has no climate pillar.

On 8 October, Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara launched the partnership strategy for 2026 to 2030, the fourth of its kind. The bank attached an “indicative” figure of about US$2.56 billion. Indicative means a target, not a cheque. Money flows only when each project is approved and signed.

The plan has two pillars. Al Jasser outlined the first as infrastructure: transport, food and farming, fisheries, and energy security and transition. The second is people: health, schools and job skills. Climate appears only in that one phrase, “energy transition”. There is no climate goal, no share of the money set aside for it, and no plan for adapting to floods, rising seas and drought.

This gap matters because Indonesia’s risks are real. The country still depends heavily on coal for electricity.........

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