ACROSS the Asean region, the business world is beginning to sense that the issue of sustainability is no longer an “additional agenda”, but part of the mainstream development governance.
In Indonesia, this shift is evident through the strengthening of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) policy and institutional frameworks, which in recent years have become more systematic and measurable.
From the perspective of the National Secretariat for SDGs and the National Development Planning Agency under the Ministry of National Development Planning, there are several key governance shifts relevant to businesses not only in Indonesia, but also in other Asean countries that are facing similar challenges when aligning economic growth with the global 2030 agenda.
SDGs enter the heart of development planning
The first and most fundamental change is the mainstreaming of the SDGs into national and regional planning systems.
Indonesia’s “Golden Indonesia 2045” vision is now fully embedded in the long-term and medium-term development plans, which define not only growth targets but also social inclusion, environmental resilience and governance reforms consistent with the SDGs.
These plans explicitly translate the SDGs into national priorities, targets and indicators.
They are supported by a dedicated presidential policy on SDG implementation that renews national SDG targets, strengthens the role of provincial governors as representatives of central government in driving SDGs at local level, and mandates updated SDG roadmaps and national and regional action plans.
A follow-on ministerial regulation from the Ministry of National Development Planning further clarifies how SDGs must be coordinated, integrated into sectoral and regional plans, and reported over time.
At the technical level, the SDG Roadmap 2023–2030, the National Action Plan (RAN) and Regional Action Plans (RAD) provide a strategic reference for ministries, agencies and local governments.
By mid-2024, the majority of Indonesian provinces had enacted their own SDG action plans and begun monitoring and evaluating progress, signalling that sub-national governments are increasingly treating SDGs as part of their core planning architecture rather than parallel initiatives.
Implications for the business world in Asean:
> Development policy direction is now “locked on” to a sustainability framework through 2030 and 2045.
> Projects, investments and partnerships that align with SDG priorities, such as energy transition, health, education and social inclusion, will find stronger policy support.
> For regional investors, these documents become important guides in assessing long-term risks and opportunities.
Data governance, accountability and new reporting standards
The second shift concerns data governance and accountability. Indonesia is strengthening the “leave no one behind” principle through the development of a new National Socio-Economic Single Data system that replaces the previous fragmented welfare databases.
This unified database, mandated by a recent presidential instruction, is now the single reference for all social assistance and empowerment programmes, enabling more precise targeting of vulnerable groups.
In parallel, a national “One Data Indonesia” policy sets common standards, metadata and governance for statistics across ministries and agencies, while the national SDGs dashboard and best-practice repository make SDG data more transparent and accessible to the public.
New approaches such as small area estimation, geospatial mapping and the use of digital sources (including mobile phone data) are being used to produce more granular indicators relevant to policy and business decisions.
At the same time, the financial regulator has rolled out a comprehensive sustainable finance framework that requires financial institutions, issuers and public companies to report on their environmental and social performance.
This regulation turns sustainability disclosure from a voluntary initiative into an expectation for all major players in the financial system.
What does this mean for business?
Non-financial reporting standards (ESG/SDGs) are upgrading. They are no longer just “nice to have”, but becoming part of the expectations of regulators and investors.
Companies need to integrate social and environmental data into management and reporting systems because the government, state auditors and the public have wider access to aggregate development data.
Indonesia’s Audit Board has gone further by auditing the governance of SDG implementation and reviewing the Voluntary National Review drafting process, positioning SDG governance squarely within the country’s public accountability ecosystem.
For Asean, Indonesia sends a strong signal—the era of “soft narrative” has shifted to an era of “measurable accountability”.
From state budget to green bonds and INFF
The third shift is how the state manages development financing.
Indonesia’s SDG financing gap until 2030 is estimated to reach nearly 24,000 trillion rupiah (RM5.9bil) post-pandemic, while the capacity of the state budget and regional budget is very limited to close this gap. In response, the government developed various sustainable finance instruments:
> Green sukuk and SDG bonds that finance projects in education, agriculture, industry, the blue economy and waste management.
> Blue bonds that target the protection of marine and coastal ecosystems.
> SDGs Government Securities Framework that integrates green, blue and social priorities within a single government securities framework.
> Fiscal incentives for electric vehicles and the imposition of a carbon tax through the Tax Regulation Harmonisation Law and the Presidential Regulation on Carbon Economic Value.
On top of all that, Indonesia has begun operationalising the Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) to unite SDG planning and financing strategies, as well as building the SDGs Financing Hub as a coordination node for innovative financing across actors—government, private sector, philanthropy and international institutions.
Consequences for business actors and the financial sector in Asean:
> Access to funding will be increasingly influenced by the alignment of portfolios with “green/social/SDG” criteria.
> Issuers and projects capable of demonstrating measurable impact on SDG indicators have a greater opportunity to access green bonds, blended finance and new public‑private partnership schemes.
> On the other hand, activities with high carbon footprints will face increased costs, both through carbon taxes and tightening financing policies.
Indonesia is not the only one moving in this direction, but the experience of developing green and SDG bond portfolios on a large scale in a developing country makes it an important reference for other Asean countries.
Business enters the “governance space”
The fourth shift is how the government regulates partnerships and the role of non-state actors.
The government no longer views business actors and philanthropy merely as donors, but as strategic partners in SDG planning, funding and implementation.
Key elements include:
> Establishment of the National SDGs Coordination Team and Regional SDGs Coordination Teams involving the private sector, academia and civil society.
> National coordination platforms connecting philanthropy, business and civil society to inventory SDG activities and financing, and to discuss regulatory strengthening on corporate social responsibility (CSR).
> A network of SDGs Centres across 63 universities, forming the Indonesia SDGs Centre Network as knowledge partners for national and local governments and businesses.
In this ecosystem, businesses are encouraged to:
> Align CSR programmes and social investments with national and regional SDG priorities, not just a charitable programme.
> Be involved in regional and national planning forums, including Development Planning Deliberations and SDG Desk.
> Use sustainability reports as tools for policy dialogue and not just mere reporting obligations.
This model is attractive to Asean because it shows how multistakeholder governance can be institutionalised, instead of relying only on ad hoc initiatives.
Opportunities and challenges for businesses in the region
For businesses across Asean, the four shifts convey several key messages:
Firstly, SDG/ESG regulations will become increasingly integrated with national development governance.
Treating sustainability as peripheral to business strategy is no longer realistic.
Secondly, data and transparency are the new currency of trust. Businesses capable of providing social and environmental impact data and “speaking in SDG indicators” will find it easier to collaborate with governments and access sustainable capital markets.
Thirdly, access to green financing will become more selective and evidence-based. Portfolios misaligned with sustainable taxonomies risk regulatory and market penalties.
Lastly, multistakeholder partnerships are now core to governance models. Businesses are expected to engage from the planning stage, not only during implementation.
For the Indonesian National Secretariat for SDGs, the agenda going forward is to ensure that the governance architecture that has been built—from the National Long-Term Development Plan to INFF—truly facilitates the business world to become part of the solution, not just an object of regulation.
At the Asean level, sharing this experience is expected to accelerate the convergence of governance standards and open up more strategic cross-country collaboration spaces.
