This year, Probolinggo City managed to outperform 30 cities and regencies in Indonesia that participated in the 2024 OPCC competition. The competition, which takes place every two years, is judged by a jury consisting of world-class urban experts and climate change researchers such as The World Bank, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and chaired by WWF Cities leader, Dr. Jennifer Lenhart.

Probolinggo became the national champion because it has set ambitious short-term greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets by 2030. Among them, by targeting a 10-15% reduction in energy consumption in several key sectors. Probolinggo City also has careful planning in mitigation and adaptation aspects. As the national winner, Probolinggo City has the right to continue to the final round in the global competition, which will be announced in Cairo, Egypt, in November 2024. Since 2019, Probolinggo City has been actively participating in the OPCC event and continues to increase actions to inhibit the rate of climate change.

Every two years, local governments enter the competition to report on their climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. Probolinggo City won the national championship based on various criteria including ambitious climate change mitigation and adaptation targets, bold leadership in climate change implementation, ability to face future challenges, and whether the city has a holistic climate action plan and the extent to which it is aligned with city goals.

OPCC is a friendly competition between cities around the world, with each city competing for best practices in climate change mitigation and adaptation. OPCC is one of the largest competitions in the world to inhibit the rate of climate change. This year, the OPCC was attended by 359 cities from 48 countries. Of the 359 participating cities, 22 cities were selected as finalists including Probolinggo City. In Indonesia, the OPCC Competition is welcomed by cities as it motivates cities to set ambitious climate targets and commitments in line with the Paris Agreement. This enthusiasm is also demonstrated by the number of cities participating and aligning their targets to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

Aditya Bayunanda, CEO of WWF-Indonesia, said, "WWF-Indonesia congratulates Probolinggo City for becoming the national winner of OPCC 2024 and at the same time encourages them to continue the competition at the global level. Aditya continued, WWF-Indonesia believes that every city in Indonesia plays an important role in reducing emissions to support the achievement of Indonesia's nationally determined contribution (NDC) target, therefore every city in Indonesia needs to have ambitious climate targets and actions."

Dr. Nurkholis, S.Sos, M.Si, CIPA, CIHCM, Acting Mayor of Probolinggo said "We are very proud to be the winner of this year's OPCC and hope to become a global winner. This competition is one of our steps to reduce emissions and motivates us to continue to improve our climate targets and actions. We invite other cities to jointly realize Indonesia's NDC targets."

In addition to Probolinggo, Jakarta will also represent Indonesia in the global OPCC Competition in the OPCC Legends category. This category is a special category participated by the defending champion in the 2022 OPCC. Jakarta has held the title of OPCC national champion for 4 times from 2015-2022. It is hoped that Jakarta can maintain its achievements and accelerate its ambitions and actions related to climate change.

Balikpapan has participated in this competition since 2019 and continues to make improvements in its climate action. Meanwhile, Pontianak participated in this competition for the first time this year and has shown quite ambitious targets. Ambitious climate targets and actions have a positive impact by increasing cities' opportunities to access climate finance. Hopefully, other cities in Indonesia will be inspired by the achievements of the four cities above.

Note to the Editor:

For more information, please contact:

Karina Lestiarsi, Communication Officer | +62 852 1816 1683 | klestiarsi@wwf.id

Members of One Planet City Challenge 2024 Jury Panel consist of:

• Andrea Carrión: Professor, FLACS
• Gabriela Vuolo: Former Global Campaign Leader, Urban Justice, Greenpeace International
• Andrea Fernández: Managing Director, Climate Finance, Knowledge and Partnerships, C40
• Gonzalo Muñoz Abogabir: Global Ambassador for Race to Zero and Race to Resilience, COP 25
• Andy Deacon: Alg Managing Director, GCOM
• Göran Finnveden: Professor, Environmental Strategic Analysis, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
• Angelica Nunez: Practice Manager for the Urban Resilience and Land Global Unit, World Bank
• Joff Merritt: Head of Urban Transformation, WEF
• Anthony Nyong: Director, Climate Change and Green Growth, African Development Bank
• Juliet Oluoch: Researcher, intersections of science, technology, and urban sustainability politics
• Ben Smith: Director, Energy and Climate Change Consulting, Arup
• Karim Selouane: CEO, Resallience
• Daniel Hoornweg: Associate Professor and Richard Marceau Chair for Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Ontario Institute of Technology
• Kuki Soejachmoen: Co-Founder and Executive Director, Indonesia Research Institute for Decarbonization
• David Simon: Professor, Royal Holloway University of London
• Maia Kutner: Global Director, Cities, States and Regions, COP
• Euan Crispin: Selected Representative, YOUNGO
• Manoj Sharma: Director, Water and Urban Development Sector Office, ADB
• Gabriela Prata Dias: Head of Section Business Models and Finance, UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre
• Maryke van Staden: Director, Carbonn Climate Center, ICLEI
• Nicola Tollin: Professor, WSR in Urban Resilience, UNESCO Chair on Urban Resilience, University of Southern Denmark
• Shanoo Saran: Managing Director, Africa Food Systems for the Future
• Prathijna Poonacha Kodira: Director, Indian Institute for Human Settlements
• Urszula Kasperek: Senior Manager, International Advocacy at Climate Group, Under2Coalition
• Priscilla Negreiros: Senior Manager, Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance, Climate Policy Initiative
• Valeria Jana Schwanitz: Professor, Western Norway University of Applied Science
• Serge de Gheldere: CEO, Futureproofed
• Veronica Arias: Former Executive Director, CC35

About the One Planet City Challenge and the We Love Cities Campaign

One Planet City Challenge (OPCC) is a global friendly competition between cities around the world to tackle climate change, through their climate actions and ambitions. The OPCC is organized to motivate city governments to be more ambitious in their efforts to tackle climate change and contribute to meeting the Paris Agreement targets. The OPCC is the largest and longest-running climate change competition of its kind in the world. To date, 900 cities in more than 70 countries have participated.

About 359 cities from 48 countries, including 31 cities/districts from Indonesia, joined the 2023-2024 OPCC by submitting data on climate ambition and action through the CDP-ICLEI platform in 2023. The OPCC committee reviews the cities' climate actions and ambitions and assesses whether they are aligned with the goals set out in the Paris Agreement. The OPCC committee then selected one to three finalists from each country. The OPCC Jury then selects two global winners from among the global finalists. All OPCC participants receive feedback on how they can improve their climate ambition and action.

After the OPCC, national finalists from each OPCC participating country will take part in the We Love Cities (WLC) Campaign. WLC is a competition to implement a public engagement campaign that encourages people around the world to express support for sustainable urban development. This can be realized through voting on the selected city's page on the WLC website, the use of the city's campaign hashtag on social media, and the number of suggestions proposed by the public. The 2024 WLC attracts 83 cities from 29 countries, including three finalists from Indonesia and one OPCC city in the Legends category, and will run for four weeks from October 1 to October 31, 2024. One global winner of the WLC will be announced in November 2024.

Full information can be found on the website:

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One Planet City Challenge | WWF (panda.org)

About WWF Indonesia Foundation

The WWF Indonesia Foundation is an Indonesian incorporated civil society organization engaged in nature conservation and sustainable development, with the support of more than 100,000 supporters. WWF Indonesia Foundation's mission is to halt environmental degradation and build a future where people live in harmony with nature, through the conservation of the world's biodiversity, the sustainable use of renewable natural resources, and support for the reduction of pollution and overconsumption. For the latest news, visit www.wwf.id and follow us on Twitter @WWF_id | Instagram @wwf_id | Facebook WWF-Indonesia | Youtube WWF-Indonesia