Bali, Indonesianpost.com – The “Tri Hita Karana Forum for Blended Finance” was held in Bali on 13 and 14 November 2022 in Bali. Under the auspices of Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, the two-day THK Forum was the pre-eminent sustainability side event to the B20 and the G20 Leaders’ Summit and attracted hundreds of leaders from business, finance, government, philanthropy, and academia.
Tantowi Yahya, Executive Lead of THK Forum 2022 explained, “The THK Forum acts as a platform to showcase and celebrate major SDG-related commitments, announcements, and milestones to drive sustainable development. The Forum is intentionally outcome-oriented, but it will also be intimate to allow for genuine interaction amongst participants to explore solutions to encourage more investment and innovation.”
Opening the THK Forum 2022, H.E. Luhut B. Pandjaitan, Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment Indonesia stated, “Indonesia’s commitment to climate change is there and very strong. However, we are facing a financial gap to accelerate the achievement of SDGs. Thus, blended finance is so important to finance so many climate projects. The Government of Indonesia is currently finalizing the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), including collaboration for early retirement of coal power plants and move towards renewable energy.”
The THK Forum announced that it had catalyzed over $30 billion worth of pledges, projects, and initiatives for the UN Sustainable Development Goals. These initiatives largely prioritized:
- Accelerating investment in Indonesia’s just energy transition
- Scaling finance for sustainable infrastructure & waste management
- Mobilizing capital for nature-based solutions – especially oceans, forests, and regenerative food systems
One of the major announcements was an innovative agreement between PLN (Indonesia’s state-owned utility) and Amazon for 210 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy across four utility-scale solar projects in Indonesia. This is also the first time a corporate will be able to access utility-scale and new solar projects in Indonesia. The four solar projects will be located in Bali and Java on the Java-Madura-Bali grid. Amazon’s commitment to be the off-taker is a key enabler for these projects. PLN plans to introduce more green tariff opportunities for other interested corporates, thereby unlocking more corporate renewable energy procurement options in the country.
Michael Punke, Global Vice President for Public Policy, at Amazon Web Services (AWS) added, “We all know that climate challenges cannot be solved in isolation by governments, the private sector, or NGOs. It’s going to take all of us collaborating, sharing ambition, and building expertise together. This is why events like this one, and organizations like the THK Forum, are so important, as they bring together a wide range of stakeholders to share knowledge and best practices to drive collaboration.”
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Darmawan Prasodjo, President Director PT. PLN said that “The reason we need to accelerate the transition is that we need to live in a world where cheap energy is clean. And clean energy is cheap.”
Another exciting announcement was the launch of the “Blue Halo S” platform with Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, and Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono. Blue Halo S is a new model for ocean conservation and fisheries management in Indonesia and is the first ever integrated marine protection and sustainable fishery management approach designed to fund itself over time.
“There is a critical need to conserve ocean ecosystems and biodiversity while building thriving and more sustainable livelihood opportunities for local communities. Blue Halo S approach serves as a blueprint for enabling these things to thrive together,” said M. Sanjayan, Chief Executive Officer, of Conservation International.
Another initiative is Bersih Indonesia program coming from the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (Alliance) which announced a US$36 million commitment to support Indonesia’s national goals to reduce 70% ocean plastic pollution by 2025 and achieve near-zero leakage by 2040. With this commitment, the Alliance will support projects across the archipelago including its flagship program, Bersih Indonesia: Eliminasi Sampah Plastik, which has started with Phase One in Malang.
“Asia has been underperforming the potential of its economy and that is now changing. Asia’s economy today is growing and in a stable condition and can be the destination of capital looking for sustainable Investments. Political will is there and capital providers know this agenda is investable. Blended finance solutions can help move faster,” stated Leong Wai Leng, Managing Director and Regional Head of APAC, CDPQ Global.
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Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy of Indonesia, Sandiaga Uno who was also present at the forum stated that Indonesia already has a ‘tourism village’ program which is funded through a blended finance scheme. The name of the village is Serangan, a historical urban landscape located in Bali which will be the first pilot project to be replicated at other locations in the future.
THK supported the incubation of more than 20 projects that will catalyze over $30 billion in investment into clean energy, avoided deforestation, ecosystem restoration, marine protection, circular waste management, and human health.
About the Tri Hita Karana Forum 2022
President Joko Widodo will preside over the third Tri Hita Karana Forum on Sustainable Development with the theme “Future Knowledge and Blended Finance for Better Business and Better World” at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Bali this November. The two-part Forum comprises the Tri Hita Karana Blended Finance Forum on 13-14 November and the Tri Hita Karana Future Knowledge Summit on 17-18 November.
As the pre-eminent sustainability G20 side event, the Tri Hita Karana Forum works to foster collaboration across the global investment community with investors, donors, project developers, and thought leaders to accelerate this leadership agenda.
The Tri Hita Karana Blended Finance Forum aims to mobilize $30 billion in catalytic and commercial capital to support SDG-linked projects in just energy transition, natural capital (including Blue Carbon, Blue Halo S, MPAs, and mangroves), intact forest conservation, regenerative food, and land use, the health of nations fund and global health architecture, MSMEs, sustainable tourism, green, resilient and inclusive digital cities and many more, including facilitating the Global Blended Finance Alliance.