Pertamina: Task Force ESC B20 Collaborate with Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Offer Energy Transition Project Partnership

Following the President of the Republic of Indonesia’s direction, Task Force Energy Sustainability and Climate (TF ESC) Business 20 (B20) held a virtual business meeting “B20 Indonesia: Partners in Energy Transition” in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Kemenlu) to present Indonesia’s energy transition plan from a real sector perspective and to offer cooperation on energy transition projects that can become concrete results for the community.

The virtual meeting was held on Friday, April 1, 2022, with 340 participants from 158 companies, governments and chambers of commerce representatives from G20 countries to attract their interest in investing in Indonesia.

Cecep Herawan, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs opened the event. He emphasized the Indonesian Presidency’s commitment at the G20 to create concrete results for the wider community and developing countries and take advantage of this momentum to realize the potential for cooperation with G20 countries in the energy transition sector.

“We have to show that the G20 forum can provide benefits all,” Cecep said.

Agung Wicaksono, Deputy Chair of B20 Taskforce Energy, Sustainability, and Climate, said as part of the engagement group at the G20, TF ESC B20 will provide policy recommendations for a sustainable energy transition with three focuses on priority issues referring to President Joko Widodo’s directives outline. Namely, accelerating the sustainable energy transiton, ensuring a just and affordable transition, and global cooperation in enhancing energy security.

Agung said this virtual business meeting aims to seek investment opportunities and partnerships among G20 countries, especially green projects. According to him, electrification, renewable energy-based generation, and energy efficiency are the main pillars of the energy transition, and investment in technology and the energy transition sector is accelerating.

“We hope that through this event, we can build many opportunities for global partnership programs to achieve a more sustainable world and SDGs,” Agung said.

Rabin Indrajad Hattari, Expert Staff for Industry at the Ministry of SOEs, added that the G20 provides strategic value and tangible benefits for the Indonesian people because it includes the international business community that wants to solve the three important problems that President Joko Widodo conveyed. It includes the development of a global health architecture, the optimization of digital technology, and the energy transition.

“This will lead to sustainable industrial practices, such as suppressing decarbonization to achieve zero emissions and supporting the energy transition,” Rabin said.

In addition, Shinta Widjaja Kamdani, Deputy Chairperson of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Chair of the Business Forum (B20) in the G20 Presidency, said that the Chamber of Commerce Ambassadors and Industry from each country who were present at this time had something in common to create mutually beneficial corporations, especially in new and renewable energy.

“We hope that in the future, there will be progress from today’s meeting to formulate a strategy in implementing new renewable energy to support the energy transition,” Shinta said.

At this forum, Pertamina, PLN, PT Jababeka, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group presented projects that could be collaborated with foreign partners. There are around 16 projects offered on this forum. Pertamina offers superior projects, such as the electric car ecosystem and a bioethanol project that uses palm oil waste, while PT Jababeka said its project proposals were related to organic waste processing and solar photovoltaics construction.