TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Former finance minister Chatib Basri said global investors were starting to consider environmental issues and avoid investing in projects considered detrimental to nature.

“It is getting difficult to get financing,” said Chatib in a virtual discussion of Katadata on Monday, November 9, 2020.

He made the statement after attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2020, where he met many global investors.

Almost all investors, he added, mulled over green issues, social protections, and people’s rights in their investment decisions. “They consider whether an investment is worth financing if it violates environmental issues,” Chatib said.

Amid the condition, Chatib acknowledged that this requires a transition process and government intervention. He suggested the government stop the subsidy for fossil fuel.

The longer the government provides such a subsidy, he said, the people would continue to consume the energy. Instead, the budget could be used for the health sector amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the development of renewable energy, he added.

To date, three Japanese institutions have reportedly announced they will no longer invest in Indonesia’s coal-fired power plants (PLTU), namely the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Mizuho Financial Group, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc (SMFG).

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FAJAR PEBRIANTO