The webinar explored how the Indonesian government and private companies could help combat the urgent problem of global warming, while also commemorating World Ozone Day.

According to the 2021 Climate Transparency Report, the main contributor to Indonesia's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is fuel combustion, resulting from drivers such as electricity (35 percent), industry (27 percent) and transportation (27 percent). Agriculture accounts for 14 percent of the country's total emissions, while the food and beverage industry is considered to be one of the largest contributors to waste in Indonesia. In light of this, Indonesia has committed to an ambitious target to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060, positioning the nation prominently on the global stage.

To elaborate on how Indonesia can reach this goal, the webinar featured three distinguished speakers from varying backgrounds to share their insights. The speakers were Nestlé Indonesia President Director Samer Chedid, Social Affairs and Poverty Alleviation expert staff at BAPPENAS, Dr. Vivi Yulaswati, and department member of Prasetiya Mulya Business School, Dr. Elliot Simangunsong.

Starting the panel session, Vivi began by laying out how Indonesia was facing a triple planetary crisis, with rising pollution, global warming and biodiversity loss. She urging the country to carry out an economic transformation toward a green economy to mitigate these crises.

To address this problem, Vivi explained that BAPPENAS had finalized its long-term development plan (RPJPN) that would commence in 2025 to be carried out until 2045.

In this long-term development plan, we have 17 goals and eight development agendas, with 45 indicators. With this, we hope to increase Indonesia’s [gross domestic product] per capita, but also mitigate the intensity of our greenhouse gas emissions that will result from our development” Vivi said.

Within the RPJPN is BAPPENAS’ decarbonization strategy that the ministry forecasts will lead to sustainable value chains. One way it is enacting decarbonization is through the implementation of its green industry certification, which assesses the waste management, emissions reduction, water efficiency, energy efficiency, product quality and resource management of companies, granting them proper certification if they meet the criteria and incentivizing the growing trend of decarbonization.

Aligning with BAPPENAS’ long-term goals, Nestlé Indonesia President Director Samer Chedid carried on Vivi’s discussion by detailing how Nestlé Indonesia was practicing environmentally friendly procedures throughout its operations.

We at Nestlé are committed to reaching net-zero emission by 2050, and we have a very clear road map to halve our GHG emissions by 2030,” Chedid begins.

With the purpose of creating shared value and mitigating global warming to reduce the company’s carbon footprint and achieve its net-zero mission, Chedid illustrated how Nestlé Indonesia’s continuous journey in decarbonization across various efforts along the value chain had also contributed to the lives of the 36,000 dairy and coffee farmers that produced for them.

With care and sincere consideration to improve the livelihoods of these farmers, who are the company’s key agriculture partners, Chedid unveiled Nestlé’s five steps toward decarbonization along the value chain. Step one, he shared, was sourcing, through regenerative agriculture practices that improves soil health for the nation’s coffee farms and manure management for dairy farmers ; step two, manufacturing, where Nestlé Indonesia has improved manufacturing practices by using rice husk biomass boilers to reduce its GHD; step three, packaging, designed to be recyclable and to reduce virgin plastic. One of the solutions discovered was by using paper packaging–specifically, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) material from sustainable forests; step four, retail and business channels: Nestlé Indonesia has conducted two studies on refillable packaging that would enable them to understand new ways of designing when producing their products and lastly, step five, end-of-life, which is the post-consumption process that supports waste management systems to reduce waste and promote a circular economy.

It is no wonder that this initiative has already proven results, as just a month ago, Nestlé Indonesia received the BPOM Environmental Sustainability Award for the Process Food Category – securing the number one position in the Foreign Investment Industry Sector. The initiative is a testament to its dedication toward the 12th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), responsible consumption and production.

As a company that believes in collaborative action to accelerate environmental efforts, for over 50 years Nestlé Indonesia has and will continue to embed a sustainable value chain within its roles to protect the planet for future generations to come, he said. 

We also believe that we need to have collaboration among different stakeholders, to accelerate the efforts, to take on roles and contribute to protect the planet for future generations. Let’s play our part to help the planet, to help future generations. Thank you very much!” Chedid closed, with a glimmer of hope.

To end the panel discussion, Elliot Simangunsong provided an academic perspective on the topic – deflowering the sometimes-complicated notion of a sustainable value chain.

A company cannot do decarbonization and achieve a sustainable value chain by itself, it has to work with its partners. Businesses and their suppliers for example, have to collaborate and encourage each other to enact practices that align with green economy standards so that they can attain sustainability.” Elliot said.

Additionally, he said the government played an integral role in the development of sustainable value chains in Indonesian businesses. This was because the government could enact supportive policies and regulations that incentivized sustainable practices, encourage innovation and foster responsible business behavior.

He said I’m very happy that the Indonesian government is really pushing us, both the academic sector and the industries to pursue this green future. We can already see this with the green industry certification as Dr. Vivi mentioned earlier, and ultimately both the business and the consumer will benefit from this effort.”

Elliot ended his presentation stating that companies could not just talk, they also needed to report. Businesses had to measure their recent progress by comparing it with that made in previous years, because it would not only reflect well on the company if it managed to continually improve, it would serve as a positive benchmark for the industry and result in better products that were more environmentally friendly for the people of Indonesia.

With more talk shows gracing our afternoons like this Jakpost Up Close episode, all three panelists believed that spreading the word on sustainable value chains through omni channels would not only elevate the country’s understanding and passion toward a green future, but set examples for the private sector of today to embed a green center-stage mindset for Indonesia and beyond. 

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