State-owned PT Pertamina (Persero), an energy company that has been active in the global arena, reaffirmed its commitment as a company that cares about the environment, social aspects and good corporate governance, setting the energy transition program as the company’s top priority.
President Director & CEO Nicke Widyawati outlined Pertamina’s strategic initiatives for developing environmentally friendly and sustainable energy at the Indonesia – Dubai Expo media briefing on Friday. (ANTARA FOTO/ADWIT B PRAMONO)
“Pertamina is committed to being known not only as a global energy player but also as an environmentally friendly company, socially responsible and upholding good corporate governance,” said Nicke Widyawati, CEO of PT Pertamina (Persero) at the Indonesia Pavilion – Dubai Expo, on Friday (18/3).
Pertamina has played an important role in the transition of Indonesia’s energy industry by targeting the energy mix and reducing emissions, with a comprehensive reduction of GHG emissions by 30% before 2030. In addition, Pertamina will prioritize the development of New and Renewable Energy (EBT) to address environmental problems, which is in line with Indonesia’s Energy Mix by 2030.
Pertamina also supports Indonesia’s G20 Presidency, which targets energy transition as one of its main priorities. As part of the Business 20 Task Force on Energy, Sustainability, and Climate, Pertamina shares the priorities of G20 Indonesia as a catalyst for green recovery, along with the principles of energy security, energy equity and environmental sustainability.
Strategies include the development of green refineries and bioenergy, and the commercialization of hydrogen, while Pertamina has also continued to increase the use of new and renewable energy as well as implement carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) to increase production in several fields, she informed.
Widyawati said that Indonesia’s geothermal resources are abundantly spread across the Ring of Fire. Hence, she believes that these resources could be a strong backbone to accelerate the energy transition, which is in line with the government’s goal to achieve net-zero emissions.
“We believe that by realizing strategic programs in collaboration with many partners across countries, energy sustainability is not merely just a discussion, but also a concrete action in which the impacts can be experienced by everyone,” said Nicke, concluding her remarks.
Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PGE) has planned to expand its installed geothermal power plant capacity in order to provide greater contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in Indonesia, and support achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) on climate action, through implementing Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) based programs.
PT Pertamina Geothermal Energy’s (PGE’s) geothermal power plant. [ANTARA/HO-PGE]
“Our expansive plan will help Indonesia to achieve a net zero emissions target by 2060,” said the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Pertamina Geothermal Energy, Nelwin Aldriansyah, during a discussion session at the UN Global Compact on responsible business conduct and climate ambition, held virtually on Wednesday, Nov 10.
The UN Global Compact is a “voluntary initiative based on CEO commitments to implementing universal sustainability principles, and taking steps to supporting UN goals. Pertamina reiterates its commitment to achieving SDGs through the implementation of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) based programs in their operational areas.”
According to Aldriansyah, PGE is planning to issue its own wind green bonds in the first half of next year (2022) in addition to PT Pertamina’s plan to issue green bonds in 2022. “Proceedings of green bonds will be used to refinance our existing conventional loans and also to finance our capex (capital expenditure) plan in developing new geothermal projects in Indonesia,” he said.
With such an initiative, PGE would be expected to gain an additional 375 megawatts (MW) over the next four years, from the current installed capacity at its geothermal power plant of 672 MW.
“We are aiming to have a total installed capacity to 1,500 megawatts by 2030,” Aldriansyah remarked. He expressed optimism that with such an additional capacity, PGE would contribute significantly to Pertamina’s plan to decarbonize its assets and reduce emissions by 30 percent by 2030.
“At our current capacity, we currently reduce emissions by about 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per annum. And with the additional capacity, we expect to reduce the emissions further, to six million tonnes annually over the next four years, and to 12 million tonnes by year 2030,” he stated.
Aldriansyah stated that the government of Indonesia aims to improve its energy mix with the use of renewable energy sources from the current 12 percent to 23 percent by 2025. He expressed confidence that the increased use of energy mix would provide ample room for renewable energy companies such as Pertamina Geothermal Energy to expand installed capacity and provide higher contributions to emissions reduction.
The CFO believes that financing plans, including the issuance of green bonds next year, can support the capacity growth in the future, which will contribute significantly to Pertamina’s objective to decarbonize its asset portfolio. “It is also aligned with the Indonesian Government’s commitment to Paris Agreement,” added Aldriansyah, “And with goal No.13 of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) on climate action.”
PT Pertamina (Persero) has been implementing four community programs, based on adaptation and mitigation approaches as its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), to support the government’s climate village program on reducing carbon emission.
“In conducting the climate village program, Pertamina facilitates multi-stakeholders and multilevel collaboration in implementing a concrete climate action at the local level, especially in each nearby village from our operation areas,” the company’s corporate secretary Brahmantya Satyamurti Poerwadi said during an online talk show held at the Indonesia Pavilion on the sidelines of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow on Tuesday.
The four approaches taken by Pertamina are greening to increase and maintain vegetation cover, waste management, utilization of new and renewable energy (NRE) as well as agricultural cultivation with low greenhouse gas emissions to prevent land and forest fires.
By having planted more than 300,000 mangroves in collaboration with the community and local governments, Pertamina has succeeded in supporting economic independency through eco-tourism program that has provided positive socio-economic impact to more than 3,000 beneficiaries. “The preservation of mangroves has become our concern,” Poerwadi asserted, adding that such a program resulted in Rp900 million of group income per year.
The greening program has proven Pertamina’s commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly the 15th point, such as protection, restoration, and improvement of a sustainable ecosystem, forest sustainability management, land restoration, and avoiding the excision of biodiversity.
In accordance with its core competency in energy sector, Pertamina takes the opportunity to promote awareness and intensify the utilization of potential sources of NRE available in the community. It aims to build energy independency at the community level as well as develop economic and value-creation for the community, he said. “The energy sources are various from solar, wind and water – which are simply provided by the nature and can be easily found by the community in their surrounding area,” he explained.
The program has generated more than 4 million watt-peak of solar electricity and economic income valued close to Rp200 million per year.
Pertamina is also improving its competencies in waste management by transforming waste to energy. Through this program, Pertamina develops the use of biogas for cooking and electricity needs, also transforming used cooking oil into biofuel. “The program is implemented in a number of areas. The utilization of more than 400,000 cubic meter of methane gas per year is estimated to create added value for more than 5,000 beneficiaries,” Poerwadi explained.
In the agricultural sector, Pertamina and the community in Sumatra area have made a unique breakthrough program by empowering the firefighter groups. The program carried out consists of developing technology to extinguish forest and land fires, as well as cultivating of productive plant on peat land. “With this activity, the community has succeeded in taking steps to prevent forest fires. In addition, Pertamina also helps the community to develop integrated farming,” he informed.
Through the program carried out in several operation areas within total area of more than 100 hectares, Poerwadi said that it has a positive impact on more than 1,000 beneficiaries and also improve the group of income with total value more than Rp900 million per year. “We believe that to achieve climate action target, all elements at various levels should work hand in hand to build climate resilience and minimize the greenhouse gas emissions,” he remarked.
Indonesia is aiming to create 20,000 climate villages by 2024, in order to encourage people to improve climate resilience through adaptation actions and contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through mitigation.
