An expert staff to the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) has suggested that negative stigma of dirty nickel industry can be removed by implementing Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) principle in the extractive industry properly.
“There is a stigma that Indonesian nickel is dirty as reported by foreign nations. However, this is not necessarily true. So far, several nickel mines in Indonesia have applied ESG well. So its implementation can remove the negative stigma,” Irwandy Arif, a professor at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), who also serves as Special Staff to ESDM Minister, said on Thursday, August 1, 2024.
He said further that the implementation of ESG in several large-scale extractive companies have run properly, while citing PT Aneka Tambang, PT Vale Indonesia, and Eramet Indonesia as examples.
“I think companies such as Eramet, Vale, Antam have applied ESG properly. Now, it depends on how the government monitors its implentation continously. I think there is no need for us to doubt it,” he added.
He, however, suggested that the government still pays special attention to small and medium companies. He also reiterated that the implementation of ESG can put Indonesia’s extractive companies as part of global trends.
Irwandy said that there are many ESG indicators in evaluating the application standards of ESG principles. Every companies, he added, have their own standards
but they have the same objective to make sure the application of ESG run properly.
He appreciated the use of Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA)
standard that is used by Eramet to ensure that the ESG principle has been implemented properly. Eramet, a French nickel mining company, currently is one of the first companies that apply IRMA standard in Indonesia.
IRMA standard is an answer to global demand for responsible mining in the context of social and environment. IRMA offers independent third party verification and certification in the form of comprehensive standard for all mined materials and is a one stop coverage from various issues related to industrial scale impact of mining.
Irwandy said that beside IRMA, there are also other standard of evaluation on ESG such as IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standard), IFRS S1 and S2, and also International Council on Mining and Metals.
