TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Former Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ignasius Jonan, predicted that five industries will potentially see exponential growth after the Covid-19 pandemic. First is the new renewable energy sector.

“It (renewable energy) is mandatory. Through any calculation, this business will grow beyond,” said Jonan in a webinar held by Infobank on Thursday, November 26, 2020.

According to him, the government had also targeted a 23-percent contribution of new renewable energy by 2025. At present, the contribution has only reached 13.6 percent.

The second industry is the electric vehicle business. Jonan argued that electric vehicles are an essential part of Indonesia to boost the economy rapidly.

For example, he went on, if the country’s gross domestic product or GDP grew 2.5 times within 10 years, the people's consumption of vehicles would be even higher. If the high demand is not in line with the growth in the electric vehicle sector, fossil-fueled vehicles will dominate the market.

“The pollution will be awful, moreover if we are not disciplined in using environmentally friendly gasoline,” Jonan said.

The other industry that is forecasted to develop exponentially is an online-based business, which will reach all sectors. Thus, property entrepreneurs must think about the utilization of their buildings such as offices to shopping centers.

Jonan went on to predict that industries related to the environment will grow in the future. The United Nations, he added, had pushed for a Tree Trillion Campaign, a program aimed to plant 1 trillion trees in the next five years.

“The fifth sector is the artificial intelligence or AI business,” Jonan said, adding that the industry will be the backbone for the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0.

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FRANCISCA CHRISTY ROSANA