RGE

Nature as an asset class is significantly underinvested. Estimates of the annual value of nature-positive business opportunities range from US$4 trillion to US$10 trillion annually by 2030. Southeast Asia’s economy — where much of RGE’s business is based — is highly dependent on its natural assets, with 60% of GDP at risk from biodiversity and nature loss. And yet there is a huge shortfall in funding for conservation and biodiversity protection of around US$ 700 billion per year. Why does this gap exist, and how do we close it? That was a key discussion point at the #IUCNLeadersForum in Geneva, where RGE’s Group Director of Sustainability, Lucita Jasmin, said the private sector needs to step up. Protecting nature is resource intensive, requiring long-term technical and financial support: something that business can provide, she said. “But most companies have yet to understand the extent of their impacts and dependencies on nature to be able to establish a strong justification for investing in nature.” Despite the potential, there are currently significant barriers to attracting private investment. A recent study by WWF and Terranomics into financing Nature-based Solutions in Southeast Asia found that investors typically look for a return on investment of between 8-10%, a two-year track record, and a US$2 million entry point. These requirements are challenging for many projects, which don’t have the maturity or infrastructure to meet investors’ expectations. “We need to find ways to bridge the gap between that and the reality of many Nature-based Solutions projects,” said Jasmin “In some cases, that will mean investors who want to have the greatest impact adjusting their expectations and relaxing one or more of these criteria.” Other actors such as Development Finance Institutions, philanthropy, international donors and companies must take on some of the risk so that conventional investors can feel comfortable injecting capital, she argued. And there are other ways to help give projects a long-term future: 💰 More companies need to invest in natural infrastructure as part of their value chain, as offsets, as remedy for past harms, or as a way to protect the longevity of their business. 📊 Banks need to come through with non-normal risk thresholds and lower ROI expectations.  🌳 Philanthropists should spend more than the 5% that globally is allocated for climate and nature.  🏆 Governments could provide incentives, such as removing land taxes on conservation and restoration licenses. 🤝 NGOs could allow greater space for unproven collaboration models to be tested. Scrutiny is welcome but not when it constrains the willingness to take risks. 🌴 There is a need for more lasting community partnerships based on free, prior and informed consent, mutual benefit and respect. “There is a business case for investing in nature and there is a huge momentum for solutions, new partnership and financing models,” said Jasmin.

Our business groups around the world celebrated RGE Founder's Day, taking time out of the office to give back to the community. In Indonesia, colleagues from APRIL, Asia Pacific Rayon (APR), Asian Agri and Apical teamed up for activities including a beach clean-up and blood donation. In Singapore we partnered with Heartware Network to organise a fun-filled day out for beneficiaries at National Gallery Singapore. In Canada staff from Woodfibre LNG and Pacific Canbriam Energy helped donate school supplies to low income families, and provided food for those in need. In China, colleagues at Sateri and ASIA SYMBOL helped in local communities and schools, as well as arranging meals for the elderly. And in Brazil, Bracell staff took part in activities such as renovating community facilities and providing food to low income households. It’s all part of our commitment to our Founder’s credo ‘the more you give, the more you have.’ #RGEFoundersDay #CSR

Ahead of the three Rio Convention COPs this year, we need transformative change to achieve the #GlobalGoals for nature and climate. The IUCN Leaders Forum gathers leaders and change makers from around the world, in-person, to discuss innovative solutions to critical global challenges, make bold commitments and build partnerships. Join our Group Sustainability Director Lucita Jasmin and other high-level speakers at the #IUCNLeadersForum October 9th. #sustainability

“At RGE, we see climate action as both an urgency and an imperative. We need to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and invest more in nature-based solutions to meet the global target of limiting warming to 1.5°C,” emphasised Lucita Jasmin, Group Sustainability Director at RGE at the recent Bloomberg Live Sustainable Business Summit. Watch the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/gVN7U4Hy #RGE #BankingandFinance #Sustainability #SustainableBusiness #SustainableGrowth #ClimateAction #Conservation #ClimateAction #SocialImpact #BloombergSBS

At the Eco-Business Unlocking Capital For Sustainability (UCFS) event, the “Transforming Asia, Mobilising Finance at Speed and Scale” panel highlighted the comments made by Ravi Menon, Singapore’s Ambassador for Climate Action and Senior Adviser to the National Climate Change Secretariat, Singapore at the Prime Minister’s Office, at the same event, on addressing the critical need for private financing to bridge the 80% funding shortfall for climate mitigation in Asia. Moderated by Nirnita Talukdar (United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), the panel speakers included Lucita Jasmin, Group Sustainability Director at RGE, Mike Ng (OCBC), Melissa Moi (UOB), and Kurt Metzger (Asia Research & Engagement (ARE)) who discussed the importance of transition finance and the need for clear definitions, sectoral decarbonisation plans and incentives to make sustainability projects bankable. Lucita spoke about the vital role of natural ecosystems in the region’s sustainable transition and the significant underinvestment in nature. She shared that the private sector can take the lead in bridging this gap. Companies can take proactive steps to integrate conservation into the business. RGE, for example, operates on a production-protection business model, with a commitment to conserve and restore one hectare of natural forest for every hectare of plantations. The company has been conserving and restoring over 150,000 hectares of tropical peat forests through Restorasi Ekosistem Riau (RER). She highlighted that conservation requires long-term, consistent funding and investments. Traditional funding from donors and governments are not guaranteed. The private sector can thus provide the “risk capital” that conservation initiatives urgently need. At RGE, we have introduced a self-levy to self-tax $1 that will be allocated to our conservation fund for every ton of wood that we bring to the mill. By integrating conservation costs into our business operations, we are able to provide long-term support for conservation initiatives. Lucita called for more public-private partnerships and collaboration among stakeholders to drive sustainable change. She emphasised the importance of creating an enabling environment that encourages private sector participation in conservation efforts and sustainable projects. The session concluded with Lucita and her fellow panellists urging all stakeholders - financial institutions, businesses, governments, and individuals – to take urgent, collaborative action to drive the transformational change needed for a sustainable future. #RGE #BankingandFinance #Sustainability #SustainableFinance #SustainabilityLinkedLoans #ClimateAction #Conservation #UnlockingCapital #UnlockingCapitalForSustainability #UCFS2024 #EBconversations

At the Bloomberg Spotlight on ASEAN Business 2024 event sponsored by Standard Chartered, Lucita Jasmin, Group Sustainability Director at RGE, spoke on a panel titled "Bringing Balance to the Energy Transition". She was joined by fellow panellists Sushil Purohit, CEO of Gentari; Ajay Shah, VP of Shell Energy Asia; and moderator Daniel Moss, Bloomberg's Opinion Columnist. Lucita underscored RGE’s strong commitment to decarbonisation and the energy transition, highlighting the company’s goal to reduce emissions intensity by 50% and achieve net zero across all its business groups by 2050. She shared that RGE’s pulp mill in Indonesia is already powered by 88% biomass, with plans to increase this to around 95% by 2030. On the topic of renewable energy, Lucita spoke about the recent Conditional Approval by Singapore Energy Market Authority (EMA) for RGE and joint venture partner TotalEnergies to supply solar energy from Indonesia to Singapore, marking a key milestone in cross-border energy transition efforts. RGE has also partnered with CEPSA to transform agriculture waste and residue and used cooking oil to feedstock for the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the aviation sector while unlocking new revenue streams for the company. The discussions concluded with a call for urgent action because there is an opportunity cost to inaction. #RGE #BankingandFinance #Sustainability #ESG #NetZero #EnergyTransition #solarenergy #RenewableEnergy #Decarbonisation #CarbonEmissions #SustainableAviation #SustainableAviationFuel #SAF #ASEAN #Indonesia #Singapore #BloombergEvents #SpotlightOnAsean

At the Indonesia International Sustainability Forum 2024 in Jakarta, William Goh, Global Head of Renewable Energy at RGE, spoke at a panel on “Realising Cross-Border Electricity Trading & Enablers Required”. He was joined by Muhadi, Coordinator for Electricity Transmission Planning, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM); Kok Keong Puah, Chief Executive, Energy Market Authority (EMA); Eka Satria, President Director & Chief Executive Officer, Medco Power Indonesia; Wu Fei, Chairman, Suntech; Ong Teng Koon, Managing Director, SP Group; and Arthur Simatupang, Co-Managing Partner, Mahardika Energy Partners. The session was moderated by Marko Lackovic, Managing Director & Partner, Boston Consulting Group (BCG).   The panellists spoke about how Singapore and Indonesia can further collaborate to accelerate the energy transition via cross-border electricity trading. It was a timely discussion as RGE and joint venture partner TotalEnergies have just been awarded Conditional Approval by the EMA to import a total of 1.0 GW of green electricity from Indonesia to Singapore.   William shared that RGE has been operating in Indonesia for more than five decades. We are always guided by our 5Cs business philosophy of doing what is good for the community, country, climate, customer, only then will it be good for the company.   He also emphasised that for cross-border electricity trading, the 3Ps, namely the Public, Private and People, are equally important. Take for example our project to supply green electricity between Indonesia and Singapore. The governments play a crucial role in terms of policies and guidance. The project requires long term commitment and investment from RGE and TotalEnergies. Finally, the green electricity must be affordable and accessible to the people. #RGE #BankingandFinance #RenewableEnergy #Sustainability #SustainableGrowth #EnergyTransition #Singapore #Indonesia #CrossBorderTrade #NetZero #ISF2024 #IndonesiaInternationalSustainabilityForum  

At the FT Live Moral Money Summit Asia, Lucita Jasmin, RGE’s Group Sustainability Director, discussed “How to manage the trade-offs between long-term corporate sustainability goals and short-term costs” alongside Melissa Moi (UOB), Andrew Taylor (Tate & Lyle) and Roy Ling (VINFAST ), with moderator Patrick Temple-West (Financial Times). Lucita highlighted three key factors that have helped us to stay on track with our sustainability goals and deliver on what truly matters. Endorsement from the highest level is critical. In RGE, our sustainability champion is one of our shareholders, Anderson Tanoto, who has always been telling us that we have to make good in our sustainability commitments and be accountable for our action or inaction. Sustainability has to be built into the fundamental business approach as increasingly, it is about how operations are run vis-à-vis merely planning sustainability into the operations. All RGE business groups have 2030 commitments which are translated to KPIs, feeding into annual budgets and performance contracts. Since we are working with operations, we have to speak its language. This means we need to have clear goals and specific KPIs, quantifiable business metrics and robust governance. However, the biggest question is who is paying for sustainability? Our approach is to impose a conservation levy on ourselves – we have been setting aside $1 for our conservation fund for every ton of fibre we bring to the mill. Last year alone, we have allocated US$16 million to this fund. With our model of financing production-protection, we can ensure long-term funding for our conservation efforts. #RGE #BankingandFinance #APRIL #Sustainability #SustainableBusiness #ESG #ClimateAction #Biodiversity #SocialEquity #FTMoralMoney

RGE’s Managing Director Anderson Tanoto spoke at the Indonesia International Sustainability Forum 2024 on the private sector’s role in energy transition in the panel: “Green Industry: Transitioning the power sector to zero emissions”. Anderson highlighted RGE’s strong push for renewable energy, including its member company APRIL’s planned 50MW of solar panels, which will be one of the largest private solar installations in Indonesia. The installation was both a hedge against rising coal prices as well as an investment in reducing emissions, proving that sustainability and business don’t have to be in opposition, he said. Anderson also elaborated on how we can capture opportunities in this space. For example, we convert used cooking oil and waste and residue from our agribusiness into sustainable aviation fuel and we use biomass from our production process to generate renewable energy. RGE’s Riau Complex derives 88% of its energy from biomass, while methane capture helps power our oil palm mills while providing surplus energy to the grid. He was joined in the panel by Jon Moore, BloombergNEF; Wiluyo Kusdwiharto, PT PLN (Persero); Wu Fei, Suntech Power Holdings; Dennis She, LONGi Solar; and Toru Yoshioka, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Indonesia. Phillip Cornell at The Economist moderated the session. #sustainability #renewableenergy #ISF2024 #EnergyTransition #energysecurity      

Patrick Tan, Head of Banking at RGE, spoke at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) panel during the GTR Asia - Trade, treasury, commodities and fintech conference in Singapore, where he shared the financial sector’s role in addressing climate change and promoting sustainable trade and supply chains. The panel, titled “Financing the Future: Building Climate-Smart Trade and Supply Chains”, was moderated by Neha Noronha (ADB) and featured insights from Roberto Leva (ADB), Sameer Khan, FCT (DBS Bank), Kanchuya Sukdheva (Climate Smart Ventures) and Phuong Tran (HDBank). Patrick shared how RGE, as a fully integrated resource-based manufacturer, is leading the way in aligning supply chains with ESG standards by prioritising sustainability at the source. He explained why RGE has embedded sustainability performance targets into its sustainability-linked loans, which promotes sustainable practices and facilitates indirect financing of working capital needs for small farmers. RGE’s commitment to climate neutrality is evident through its Production-Protection model, which generated US$16 million for conservation efforts in 2023 alone. Patrick urged for innovative nature-based financing solutions, highlighting their critical role in advancing sustainability and reducing carbon emissions. He further stressed the need for consistent international ESG guidelines to ensure supply chains are universally bankable and encouraged industry-wide collaboration to achieve this goal. #RGE #BankingandFinance #Asia #ProductionProtection #ESG #Sustainability #SustainableFinance #TradeFinance #SupplyChain #ClimateAction #CarbonNeutral #CarbonPositive