TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Greenpeace Indonesia criticized Vice Presidential candidate number 2 Gibran Rakabuming Raka's promise to create 5 million green jobs through downstream industries.

“Gibran is polishing the downstream program into a fake energy transition,” said Greenpeace Indonesia’s Forest Campaign Team Leader, Arie Rompas, to Tempo on Monday, January 22, 2024.

Arie argues that it is dangerous for people to believe that green jobs can be created through the downstream program because it perpetuates extractivism, which is the root cause of the climate crisis.

Extractivism is an ideology in which a country relies heavily on the mining sector and its derivative exports as drivers of development and economic growth.

Arie explained that in fact, green jobs are those that reduce environmental impacts by bringing companies and economic sectors to a sustainable level.

“Meanwhile, the downstream program that Gibran is referring to includes extractive activities, such as nickel and biofuels, which still damage nature,” he said. “This goes against green jobs.”

He went on to suggest that green jobs should at least be jobs that help protect ecosystems and biodiversity, reduce dirty energy with a high level of efficiency, and those related to economic decarbonization.

During Sunday’s televised debate, Gibran Rakabuming pledged that five million green jobs could be created if the downstream of mining products is further controlled and expanded. He said this figure is part of the 19.8 million new jobs from the downstream industry, equitable development, the green energy transition, and the creative economy of MSMEs.

He mentioned that the downstream industry is not only in the mining sector but also in the agriculture, maritime, and digital sectors. “Green jobs are a trend for current and future employment opportunities,” said the eldest son of President Joko Widodo or Jokowi.

AMELIA RAHIMA SARI

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