In developing EWINDO seeds, it puts professional experts who are experienced in the fields of plant breeding and seeding. The results of research and development of vegetable seeds are produced, processed and packaged and marketed for Indonesian farmers with the trademark CAP PANAH MERAH.

For more than two decades EWINDO has always provided healthy seeds with high genetic purity and good germination to obtain high yields in accordance with consumer demand and as the key to the success of Indonesian’s farmers. EWINDO believes in high quality vegetable seeds for a better life. Their mission is to provide high quality seeds to increase farmers’ income and increase vegetable consumption

Private Sector Contribution to Achieve SDGs in Indonesia

According to the Better Business, Better World report (2017), US$12 trillion of additional market value could be unlocked by 2030 if the SDGs are successfully implemented, creating 380 million jobs in the process. Have private sector done enough actions for the SDGs? In seeking for the answer to this question,  Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development (IBCSD) conducted a knowledge sharing session with the theme of “Private Sector Contribution to achieve SDGs in Indonesia” at Hotel JS Luwansa on 19 September 2019.

“SDGs will not be achieved without the leadership of private companies because they have the resources, specialized skills, cutting edge technologies and innovations,” stated Ms. Shinta W. Kamdani, the President of IBCSD in her welcoming remarks. She went on to add “Call  for action” to motivate the leaders of private companies to take action on the implementation of SDGs.

Over 60 participants from the IBCSD Members companies, Government, NGOs and civil society partners attended the event. The highlight of the event was the publication of Companies’ SDG Best Practices Book which consists of 59 stories from 24 IBCSD member companies. This book resulted as the fruit of SDG Working Group launched last year. The significance of this book lies not only in its implications but also the fact that it is the first book of Indonesia SDG series which showcase private sector’s best practices.

In continuation, the knowledge sharing session in the format of short individual presentation and panel discussion took place as the main agenda. Six of the best practices from the book which align with the voluntary national reporting (VNR) as stated by the Bappenas were shared with the audience. The panel discussion was lively with the active participation of the audience and proved to be a substantive and impactful discussion.

IBCSD hopes to further carry on the momentum of the private sector contribution to SDGs in Indonesia through various of its programs and joint collaborations with members, partners and colleagues. “Partnership for the goal, that is the key to actually tackling the SDGs” emphasized Ms. Indah Budiani, the executive director of IBCSD, as she closed the event.

For more info:  Visit www.ibcsd.or.id  Follow @ibcsd_official

As part of the Indonesia SDGs series, IBCSD collects best practices on the initiatives from the IBCSD member companies to show how private sector has contributed to the SDGs in Indonesia. These stories are expected not only to showcase the concrete actions that companies have taken part in achieving SDGs, but it is also a very useful tool to share the process, results, impacts, challenges and lessons learned on the different initiatives of a wide variety of the SDGs. Knowledge exchange on what works on the ground can be a good pillar for strengthening capacity among relevant stakeholders in achieving SDGs.

The documentation on Private Sector Contribution to Achieve SDGs in Indonesia consists of 59 program stories that are collected from the IBCSD’s 24 member companies. These programs are spread in 24 provinces across Indonesia. The beneficiaries cover around 534,537 individuals; 57,015 households and 682 villages. For more detailed stories, please download and read the full document.

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The Global Reporting Standards (GRI) and the Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Business (IBCSD) collaborated on conducting a Focus Group Discussion regarding the “Alignment of POJK 51/2017 with GRI Standard and SDGs Reporting”.

Although SDGs attainment may not be the primary objective of the Private Sector, the awareness on the importance of SDGs implementation is already high. “Whenever there is a planning of a new project, the consideration on which one or more of the 17 SDGs would be impacted is always on the mind of the decision makers.” stated Ms. Sinta from Unilever. 

Hectic discussion between the Private Sector (PT Pertamina, PT Vale, PT APP, PT Unilever & PT Medco Energi), NGOs (GRI, JICA) and the Government (BAPPENAS- SDGs Secretariat) resulted in some valuable insights into current reporting criteria and possibilities for further improvement. 

The seminar was attended by around 48 participants from FMCG companies and its supply chains, associations and civil society organization partners. The resource persons from various stakeholders were invited to provide multi-dimension views and trigger further discussion on the seminar topic. They were Mr. Radison Silalahi (Head of Green Industry Standard and Institutional Division, Centre for Green Industry, Ministry of Industry); Mr. Wisman Djaja (Director of Sustainable Agriculture Development, PT Nestlé Indonesia); Ms. Nuni Setyoko (Head of Corporate Sustainability, HSBC Indonesia) and Mr. Robin Tanzil (Senior Vice President Business Banking, HSBC Indonesia); Mr. Glenn Pardede (Managing Director, PT East West Seed Indonesia) and Mr. Aditya Bayunanda (Director of Policy, Sustainability & Transformation, WWF Indonesia).

In his opening remarks, Mr. Anurag Saigal, Deputy Head of Commercial Banking HSBC emphasized that environment is changing and it affects everybody’s life. HSBC has been participated to push forward the agenda of sustainability. Mr. Radison Silalahi from Ministry of Industry in his keynote speech said, “Green industry has been part of market demand and competitive advantage factor in line with increasing awareness of consumers on environmental sustainability. Innovations for green industry will make the companies have more competitive advantage in the future”. Mr. Wisman Djaja from PT Nestlé Indonesia emphasized that sustainability approach will double productivity in agriculture. However, he further underlined the importance of financial access for individual farmer. “Training only to farmers will not bring impact if individual farmer does not have access to financial support because current scheme of credit to farmers, such as KUR has not reached individual farmer”. Mr. Glenn Pardede from PT East West Seed Indonesia shared that his company works to offer high quality seeds. The company involves 7.000 farmers to produce high quality seeds. And the seeds from the factory are distributed to 7 million farmers across Indonesia. Mr. Aditya Bayunanda from WWF Indonesia shared on the importance of traceability of the farmer products. WWF is developing online platform for traceability on palm oil. When this platform is ready, it can also be used for other commodities and can support sustainable sourcing.

“Children are integral to every buisness – as consumers, as family member of employees and future stakeholder” with this statement,  Ms. Lukita, a Child Rights and Business (CRB) Focal point, UNICEF Indonesia started the second training session with specific focus on: “How to use child safegurading tool for private sector”. The training session was highly substantive with materials covering the basic framework of the Child Safeguarding tool and exercises for practical implications in different business sectors.

Participants from 11 IBCSD Member companies, the Conflict Resolution Unit (CRU) and IBCSD brought diverse implications of Child Rights on to the interactive discussion and exercises. Such active participation enabled the session to bear clear understanding on  CRBP as well as how in future, businesses could implementthe CRBP, in particular how to use child safe guarding tool for private sector

SPOTT aims to facilitate corporate engagement and increase industry transparency.  ZSL has developed the SPOTT indicators in collaboration with technical advisors, reflecting and adopting the frameworks of related initiatives, including the Forest Stewardship Council, Carbon Disclosure Project, Accountability Framework Initiative, Global Reporting Initiative, the United Nations Global Compact and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

According to ZSL, just 20 of the 97 companies that were assessed have committed to zero-deforestation. APRIL’s commitment to ‘eliminating deforestation from our supply chain and to protecting the forest and peatland landscapes in which we operate’ is enshrined in the company’s Sustainable Forest Management Policy (SFMP) 2.0.

APRIL scored above 70% in four indicator categories, namely: landbank, mills and traceability (78.9%); water, chemical and waste management (70.8%); community, land and labour rights (77.3%); and governance and grievances (75%).

Lucita Jasmin, Director of Sustainability and External Affairs, said: “Third party assessments such as SPOTT play an essential role in driving standards of transparency across the industry. The results of this assessment help identify not only areas where we can improve our disclosures but also areas where we can strengthen our policy against SPOTT and the related frameworks. It demonstrates how constructive engagement with civil society groups such as ZSL can help drive continuous improvement in APRIL.”

Other highlights from the 2019 assessment:

• The average score of 49 companies also assessed in 2018 is 33.3% compared to 31.1% last year.
• The average score of 24 companies also assessed in 2017 and 2018 is 39.8% compared to 38.9% in 2018, and 37.1% in 2017.
• 26/97 (26%) companies have put in place a clear and comprehensive sustainability policy.
• Only 10/82 companies (12%) extend their sustainability policy to all their sourcing.
• 25/97 (26%) companies have published a sustainability report in the last two years.

For more information, the summary of SPOTT timber and pulp assessments can be found at https://www.spott.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/07/Summary-of-timber-pulp-assessments-july-2019.pdf 

According to the IDF Committee, there were 2950 participants, 100 speakers at ideas and innovations marketplace sessions, 107 speakers at parallel sessions and 37 speakers at plenary sessions in the IDF 2019.

To showcase the IBCSD members commitment and actions on SDGs in Indonesia, the IBCSD set up booth during the IDF with title “IBCSD MEMBERS COMMITMENT TOWARDS SDGs”. Eight companies supported this booth and shared their programs and beneficiaries relating their concrete actions on the SDGs in Indonesia. These companies are BNI, APP Sinar Mas, PT Nestle Indonesia, APRIL, PT Vale Indonesia Tbk, PT HM Sampoerna Tbk, PT Repal Internasional Indonesia and Sintesa Group. 

“It is great that the companies already take concrete actions and map their actions in relation to each goal of the SDGs in Indonesia. The government at both national and regional levels also needs to map their actions towards the achievement of each goal of the SDGs” said a visitor from BAPPENAS. Many participants from different institutions visited the IBCSD booth, including the Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla that came for delivering IDF opening remarks. A number of visitors showed their interest to have further discussion with IBCSD  and to explore opportunities for potential future collaboration.