Southeast Asia’s unique geography has long positioned the region for a green economy boom. Despite accounting for only 3% of the world’s land area, the region hosts over 25% of Earth’s biodiversity. Consequently, Southeast Asia’s role in global environmental stewardship is paramount. Indonesia is a primary driver of this shift, leveraging long-standing initiatives in sustainable agriculture, forest conservation, and ecotourism. The next critical step is to codify these efforts into a robust "Green Economy Grand Design" that provides a solid blueprint for global partnerships and sustainable growth.

President Prabowo’s environmental mandate is clear: initiate large-scale reforestation, empower local communities through high-quality green jobs, and accelerate the energy transition. To execute this vision, the National Development Planning Ministry (Bappenas) has integrated these priorities into the National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) 2025–2028. This transformation is rooted in accountability represented by Bappenas’ effort in developing rigorous metrics, such as the Green Economy Index and specific land, air, and sea quality indicators, to ensure progress is measurable and credible.

However, balancing rapid economic growth with sustainability remains challenging. For example, a recent study has shown that since 2020, systematic barriers continue to surface in Southeast Asia, which can hinder scalability and progress. In response to this "triple planetary crisis" and global volatility, Bappenas has thus recently developed the Green Economy Grand Design for Indonesia 2045. The Grand Design serves as a strategic anchor that not only compiles current best practices and long-term priorities but also offers certainty in the process. Much like the UK’s Plans and Progress to Reach Net Zero by 2050 or Vietnam’s National Green Growth Strategy for 2021-2030, Indonesia’s Grand Design provides a "navigation map" for investors. It harmonizes cross-sectoral progress under a single platform, offering certainty in an era of global disruption.

Achieving these goals requires more than just domestic policy. It demands global collaboration. The financial scale of this transition is significant. Indonesia faces an annual investment gap of Rp 458.2 trillion ($27.13 billion) out of a required Rp 794.6 trillion ($47.08 billion). 

Moving forward, the green economy in Indonesia needs to be centered on an approach that is innovative and competitive. First, global investment and regional cooperation are the pinnacle of capturing this momentum. The Grand Design not only brings forward priorities but also introduces game changers that will disrupt Indonesia’s landscape for the better. This includes strategic arenas such as waste-to-product and waste-to-electricity, blue carbon development, and the electrification of logistics. These not only represent a picture of the government’s objectives but can serve as a map for investors to understand what business opportunities are low-hanging fruit.

Second, a robust framework for the green economy can be a new chapter for governance in Indonesia, one where green growth is a silver lining and point of collaboration between government ministries as well as the regional government. Maintaining governance is key to enhancing the credibility and integrity of relevant initiatives. 

Finally, private sector participation needs to be supported by convening a diverse network of experts to deepen knowledge transfer and exchange on the green economy. 

Indeed, the work continues for all of us to engage together and provide an enabling ecosystem that will support global investors, governance, and industry to thrive. Indonesia’s green future is counting on it.

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Leonardo A. A. T. Sambodo is the Deputy for Food Affairs, Natural Resources, and the Environment at the Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas)

The views expressed in this article are those of the author.

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