Jakarta. Vice presidential candidate Gibran Rakabuming said Sunday that his grand strategy of spurring energy transition and domestic processing of natural resources, among others, could generate 5 million green jobs.

Gibran was facing off his rivals Muhaimin Iskandar and Mohammad Mahfud MD in a climate-focused election debate. 

As expected, Gibran kicked off his speech by reaffirming the need to process Indonesia’s abundant natural resources -- be it mining minerals or agricultural commodities -- at home. This means a stop to exporting unprocessed commodities. He also talked about building Indonesia's “digital downstream industry”. In other words, the development of Indonesia’s digital economy.

Gibran then went on to say that Indonesia holds up to 3,686 gigawatts of renewable energy -- a combination of sunlight, wind, and geothermal, among others. He also called for the need to ramp up biodiesel use to wean Indonesia off fossil fuel.

“If this agenda of domestic processing, equitable development, energy transition, creative economy, micro, small and medium enterprises [MSMEs], … if everything goes well, we will be able to create 19 million jobs for Indonesia’s youth and women if God is willing. About 5 million of them are expected to be green jobs,” Gibran said in the televised debate in Jakarta.

“Green jobs are the trend of today and the future,” Gibran added.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) defines green jobs as decent jobs that contribute to preserving or restoring the environment. These jobs may be in traditional sectors such as manufacturing but can be in emerging green sectors such as renewable energy.

Data shows Indonesia is home to over 270 million people. About 70.72 percent of the population is in the productive age (15-64 years old), according to the 2020 national census. As of August 2023, Indonesia’s unemployment rate stood at 5.32 percent.

Gibran is the running mate to Prabowo Subianto who currently serves as the defense minister. Gibran is President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s eldest son.