Global Companies Slated to Go Green At Business Meet

Jakarta Globe, Fidelis E. Satriastanti | April 27, 2011

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More than 200 companies from around the globe are expected to attend a key summit in Jakarta this week, where they will sign a pledge to cut their carbon emissions and adopt eco-friendly practices.

The commitment is one of the highlights of the Business for Environment summit (B4E), led annually by the World Wildlife Fund, which runs from Thursday through Friday. A pre-summit event it held on Wednesday.

The meeting encourages executives and entrepreneurs to help solve pressing environmental issues by creating green economies, protecting biodiversity and reducing their carbon footprints. It also promotes the UN’s forestry conservation program.

Shinta Widjaja Kamdani, deputy chair of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), one the event partners, said the summit was in line with Indonesia’s target to cut emissions by 26 percent by 2020.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is scheduled to address the summit on the second day, has said the country could reduce emissions by 41 percent with international assistance.

“Reaching this is possible,” Shinta said on Tuesday.

“If the companies [agree with the] meeting’s goal, they will be required to help achieve emissions-cutting targets through projects,” she added.

Shinta said the pledges, to be announced by the firms before the summit’s close, would reveal their ideas on the best strategies that they believe would help the environment.

But she said the government should also do its part in encouraging the private sector to adopt more eco-friendly practices in their operations.

“I always say to the government that if we want to do this [cut emissions], then we would have to give these companies incentives,” she said.

“We obviously want to achieve the target, but we need to examine the economic condition,” she said. “We are private enterprises engaged in commercial — not voluntary — activities.”

“This is not a form of corporate social responsibility, so it will need the proper support [from the government],” she added.

Senior officials, including Hatta Rajasa, the coordinating minister for the economy, will participate in the summit.

Shinta said Kadin was preparing a list of recommendations on how the government could encourage companies, particularly those in the banking sector, to go green.

She added that the Indonesian Business Council, a unit of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, would also be launched during the summit.

WWF-Indonesia head Efransjah said firms played a major role in helping conserve resources as well as prevent further environmental damage.

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