The pandemic has actually been a wake-up call to find new sources of economic growth, one of them is green economy.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as an opportunity to create green jobs, financial system stability deputy commissioner at the Financial Services Authority (OJK), Agus Edy Siregar, said at a webinar here on Tuesday.

"For Indonesia, there are several sectors that could potentially produce green jobs. First, the farming sector holds enough potential for eco-friendly jobs. Then, there are tourism and energy," he elaborated at the 'Millennials Challenge in Obtaining Green Economy Financing Access Opportunities' webinar.

The tourism sector could potentially create green jobs because ecotourism and wellness tourism are in demand among the public, he pointed out.

Meanwhile, the renewable energy sector is also projected to be able to create jobs for 43 million people by 2050, he noted.

"The pandemic has actually been a wake-up call to find new sources of economic growth, one of them is green economy," he said.

"This becomes the new source of economic growth and will become a part of national economic recovery," he noted.

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As per the World Economic Forum's (WEF) estimate, 395 million new green jobs were created due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, Siregar said.

Around 95 percent of Indonesian micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have also declared their interest in eco-friendly business practices, he added.

OJK is encouraging the green economy shift by making efforts to help eco-friendly MSMEs obtain financing, such as through the securities crowdfunding platform, he informed.

"This is to cover MSMEs' needs and bring together parties that require funding, in which there are already 93 thousand financiers with over Rp400 billion distributed funds," he said.

In addition, the OJK will classify 2,443 business sub-sectors as eco-friendly or not eco-friendly under the green taxonomy, he added.

After the classification, the government will provide incentives to enterprises categorized as green and disincentivize non-green enterprises, he disclosed.

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Translator: Sanya Dinda S, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Suharto
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