Sustainable development as a new paradigm in generating economic growth has gained the attention and commitment of many institutions and countries. This issue is so important, that the United Nations in cooperation with various governments, civil society and other economic players have developed a sustainable development framework that is expected to bring economic and environmental sustainability interests together, provide economic transformation process, and expand access for the poor to get out of poverty, and enforce justice. This also takes into account that the social and environmental issues which have not been included in the economic calculations have become important elements that need to be considered. The balance between the importance to make profits does not legitimize a lower attention and commitment to protecting the environment and a better social life.

A number of global initiatives from several financial institutions worldwide were established to support sustainable development, such as the RIO+ Agreement which includes the commitment of developed countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally and to help developing countries to also undertake economic development programs that are environmentally friendly, The Equator Principles (EP) which are observed by 70 financial institutions committed to not provide loans to projects worth USD 10 million or more if the prospective debtor does not comply with the prevailing social and environmental regulations and follow procedures established by the EP. The United Nations Environment Programme - Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI) which was established since 1972 to 2013 has members of more than 200 financial institutions, including two (2) Indonesian banks, BNI and Bank Jabar Banten. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is another international initiative.The GRI guidelines were adopted from the UN Environment Programme (funded by the UN Development Fund), and serves as one of the guidelines in developing sustainability reports. A sustainability report is a report made by a company in order to disclose or communicate to all stakeholders on its economic, environmental and social performance accountably.

Indonesia as one of the G20 countries, has also demonstrated its commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 at the Pittsburgh Summit in 2009. Indonesia’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emission (GHG) by 26% at its own expense or up to a 41% reduction with international supporthas been translated into a National Action Plan for the Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emission (RAN GRK). The plan states that the 26% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions will come from forestry and peatland 50%, energy and transportation 3.8%, agriculture 18%, industry 1.8% and waste 5.9%. Furthermore, the government has also incorporated the sustainable development framework in the Medium and Long Term Development Plan that comprises four aspects of sustainable development, namely the social, economic, environmental and institutional aspects.

As an integral part of the Republic of Indonesia, OJK certainly plays a role in achieving this commitment through its sustainable finance program. The program is carried out through the cooperation of various parties to create financial support to industries that practice sustainable finance principles. The sustainable finance program not only seeks to increase financing but also to increase the durability and competitiveness of financial services institutions. The development orientation to increase durability and competitiveness is based on the premise that sustainable finance is a challenge and a new opportunity that FSI can benefit from to grow and develop more stably. Furthermore, to achieve this through systematic stages, OJK in cooperation with relevant institutions have developed a Sustainable Finance Roadmap. This roadmap sets forth the end goal of sustainable financein Indonesia to be achieved in the medium term (2015-2019) and long term (2015-2024) by the financial services industry under the supervision of OJK and determines and prepares the benchmark for improvements in sustainable finance. This roadmap will serve as a reference for OJK and the financial services industry as well as other parties who have an interest in supporting sustainable development, especially the government, industries and international institutions.

Due to the high energy requirements to support development, sustainable finance activities at the beginning of the year will give priority to the development of new renewable energy and energy conservation. Indonesia, which currently needs a fairly high economic growth to take advantage of the demographic bonus and to get out of the middle income trap, requires a fairly high energy supply. Support to the energy sector will be accompanied by support for the development of the priority economic sectors, namely sectors that have a high multiplier effect such as agriculture in the broadest sense, manufacturing, infrastructure, SMEs and energy.

In the long term, the distribution of sustainable financing to strategic sector industries is expected to encourage sustainable economic growth, which in turn will provide a larger market for financial services institutions. The creation of a larger market along with its generated economic growth will have a positive impact on the sustainability of Financial Services Institutions in particular, and is also expected to reduce Indonesia’s balance of payments deficit.

OJK as the supervisory authority of Financial Services Industry, would like to thank the International Finance Corporation (IFC)-World Bank and Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) who has collaborated in providing feedback on several sustainable finance development alternatives for this Sustainable Finance Roadmap Book. Furthermore, OJK would also like to thank several parties that have provided feedback for the roadmap, among others: the Financial Services Industry Association, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the Ministry of National Development Planning Agency, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (RED-GIZ), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). OJK welcomes the involvement of national and international institutions to support sustainable finance initiatives.