Target Carbon Emission Reduction Contribution To 23 Percent In 2025, BRI Mau Tanam 1.75 Million Tree Bits

JAKARTA - PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk or BRI distributed 1.75 million tree seedlings through the BRI Menanam program. With this program, BRI is committed to supporting government programs in maintaining climate resilience through reducing carbon emissions.

"BRI hopes to reduce emissions by 108,065 tCo2es in five years. This figure is equivalent to 23 percent of BRI's carbon emission reduction contribution," said BRI President Director Sunarso in a statement to the media, Tuesday, October 4.

Sunarso said the carbon footprint of electricity and fuel use at BRI in 2020 reached 469,847 tC02e and was projected to decrease to 361,782 tC02e in 2025. This calculation is based on the assumption that the absorption of CO2 productive trees distributed in BRI Menanam is 88.11 kg per year and has taken into account the potential mortality of the plant seeds distributed.

"Besides reducing carbon emissions, BRI Menanam is also one of BRI's efforts to increase empowerment to the community, especially MSME actors, to jointly strengthen the implementation of Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG)," he said.

Sunarso added that his efforts through BRI Menanam can increase community productivity. On the other hand, BRI continues to provide assistance to ensure the use of seeds can run optimally and the community can feel the benefits.

Once a customer disburses people's business loans (KUR), we give seeds and customers are required to plant and care for them. This initiative has been carried out and hundreds of thousands of seeds have been distributed to the community," explained Sunarso.

BRI Menanam targets as many as 750 thousand seeds to be planted in 2022 and around 1 million more seeds to be planted in 2023. By the end of September 2022, BRI Menanam has succeeded in distributing and planting 376 thousand tree seedlings.

For the 2022 target, out of 754,000 around 376,000 seeds were distributed for village land, 227 thousand seeds for existing customers from BRI Unit's People's Business Credit (KUR), and 151,000 seeds for new customers from BRI Unit KUR until the end of September 2022.

The distribution of tree seedlings is run by 799 BRI units, 236 Branch Offices, and 17 Regional Office BRIs in various regions in Indonesia. The types of plant seeds given are productive types of trees, so that apart from absorbing carbon, it can also provide more value for the community to take advantage of the results.

The types of tree seedlings that have been distributed include Durian (33.64 percent), Mangga (22.45 percent), avocado (21.80 percent), Jambu (5.79 percent), Jeruk (2.39 percent), and other types of trees (14.65 percent).

"For example, if I plant 15 avocado trees and 10 mango trees in my yard, my hope is that in two years this tree will be shady and absorb a lot of carbon dioxide and the fruit can also be utilized by the community," added Sunarso.

This BRI Menanam initiative also supports the company in implementing the 3P or Pro People, Pro Planet, and Pro Profit concepts. In the Pro People concept, BRI encourages various programs to improve people's welfare. This is shown in BRI Menanam where productive plant management is expected to provide economic value for the community.

The profit carried by the company is not limited to the direct profit received by BRI. More than that, BRI continues to encourage customers, especially among MSMEs to increase their business capacity and successfully 'level up'. The continued escalation of credit is a clear proof of support for developing MSMEs.

In a sustainable manner, he said, the provision and empowerment of productive plants is expected to be BRI's contribution in reducing emissions and in accordance with the Pro Planet concept. He is optimistic that he will be able to distribute these productive plants both in rural areas and urban areas.