GREEN CONNECT #3 discussed project readiness, green finance, blended finance, carbon markets, Islamic finance, agroforestry, and peat-friendly businesses to connect climate policy with investment and action at the site level.
Pekanbaru, 30 September 2026 — GREEN for Riau continued its webinar series with GREEN CONNECT #3, titled “Green Economy and Sustainable Investment: Connecting Policy, Finance, and Climate Action,” held online via Zoom Meeting.
The webinar featured six speakers: Johan Kieft, Senior Programme Manager at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Nyoman Gde Satrya Wibawa, S.E., MBA., APAC Regional Coordinator; Risti Zahroh, M.Sc., Manager of the Nature-Based Solutions and Ecosystem Services Program at The Landscape Group; Fitrian Ardiansyah, Impact Director at ACLF; Bobby Ferdian, Head of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Division at BRK Syariah; and Weny Faradita A, Senior Partnership and External Relation Lead at Avantierra (previously Angin Foundation).
Collaboration as the Foundation of Green Economic Transformation
Bambang Arifatmi, Ph.D., GLS, Country Coordinator of the UNEP UN-REDD Programme in Indonesia, stated in his opening remarks that Riau has significant potential to become one of the drivers of green economic transformation through forest and peatland management, sustainable agriculture, and the development of responsible supply chains.
He emphasized that green economic transformation in Riau needs to be built through cross-sector collaboration. Amid the pressure of the triple planetary crisis—climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution—Riau faces forest and land fire risks that affect public health, economic activity, and supply chains.
According to Bambang, social forestry, green finance, nature-based solutions, landscape management, public-private partnerships, and GEDSI approaches need to move forward together so that communities become key actors in green development and its benefits are shared more inclusively.
Green Economy as a New Source of Growth
Achmad Adhitya, Ph.D., GLS, Special Staff to the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, emphasized that economic development and sustainability do not need to be seen as opposing goals. On the contrary, the green economy can become a new source of productivity, employment, investment, and competitiveness.
He highlighted several areas of growth, including clean energy and green infrastructure, the circular economy, industry and downstream processing, nature-based solutions, sustainable finance, and carbon markets.
In the context of Riau, Achmad sees the province as having the potential to become a Living Laboratory for the Green Economy. However, this transformation requires three main elements: long-term policy certainty, the capacity to execute projects, and sufficiently mature plans to bring together government, businesses, investors, and financial institutions.
From Available Funds to Investable Projects
Dr. Joko Tri Haryanto, S.E., M.S.E., President Director of the Indonesia Environment Fund (BPDLH), highlighted the importance of distinguishing between funding and financing.
According to him, the issue is not simply whether funds are available, but how an environmental initiative can be prepared so that it is both financeable and investable.
This requires a financing architecture that connects public funds, bilateral and multilateral donors, philanthropy, blended finance, impact investment, private capital, and carbon finance. BPDLH can serve as a national climate finance platform that connects financing needs with various funding sources.
In the Riau context, readiness is also not enough at the project level alone. Landscapes need data governance, benefit-sharing mechanisms, and institutional certainty to build investor confidence while safeguarding environmental and social benefits.
Carbon markets should also not stop at carbon credit transactions. These instruments need to support forest and peatland protection, ecosystem restoration, enterprise development, and benefits for communities.
Bioenergy as a Concrete Opportunity for Riau
The second keynote speaker, Dr. Anggawira, M.M., M.H., Secretary General of the IPB University Alumni Association, emphasized the need to move green economy discussions toward more concrete implementation that reflects regional characteristics.
According to him, green development approaches cannot be standardized because each region has different resources, needs, and challenges.
For Riau, Anggawira highlighted the potential use of biomass for bioenergy. Resources from the plantation sector and regional economic activities can be developed into new sources of added value.
He encouraged the development of pilot projects that can connect bioenergy demand with the availability of local raw materials while also delivering more direct economic benefits to communities.
Following the opening remarks and keynote presentations, the speaker session was moderated by Erwin Widodo, Ph.D., GLS. Erwin emphasized that the green economy cannot stop at commitments and policies. The challenge is to translate those policies into projects that are ready to implement, financeable, and able to manage risk.
Blended Finance Bridges Investment Risk
Fitrian Ardiansyah, Impact Director of the Asia Climate-Smart Landscape Fund (ACLF), explained that the barriers to green investment are not only about a lack of capital.
According to Fitrian, there are three main challenges. First, project and business pipelines are not yet sufficiently ready because data, governance, supply-chain traceability, and impact metrics do not yet meet investor needs.
Second, climate, production, market, and buyer risks are still borne too heavily by businesses. Third, there is a mismatch between the type of capital needed and the financing instruments available.
Fitrian explained that blended finance can be used to reduce risk gradually through a combination of grants or catalytic capital, guarantees, concessional finance, and commercial capital once the business profile becomes stronger.
Sustainable Finance Must Ensure No One Is Left Behind
Nyoman Gde Satrya Wibawa, S.E., MBA., APAC Regional Coordinator of the UNEP Finance Initiative, discussed how financial institutions need to assess the impacts of financing more broadly.
Through the Principles for Responsible Banking, financing decisions should consider not only financial performance, but also impacts on the climate, nature, a healthy and inclusive economy, and human rights.
Nyoman emphasized the concept of a just transition, ensuring that economic transformation does not leave behind beneficiaries such as communities living around forests or vulnerable groups, nor make them bear the burden of transition.
Therefore, financing needs to consider skills development, community economic resilience, access to economic opportunities, and protection for vulnerable groups.
Regional Banks Develop Green and Inclusive Finance
From the regional banking sector, Bobby Ferdian, Head of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Division at BRK Syariah, explained the role of regional banks in connecting Islamic finance with sustainable development.
BRK Syariah applies risk management to activities that may have environmental impacts. Customer collateral is not permitted in certain forest areas or prohibited peatlands, while financing for high-risk sectors also undergoes a risk management process.
At the same time, the bank has implemented various financing instruments for communities and local businesses, including oil palm replanting programmes, KUR, MSME financing, and other Islamic financial instruments.
This approach demonstrates that regional development banks can serve not only as providers of capital, but also as institutions that help direct economic activities toward greater landscape sustainability.
Carbon Markets Must Maintain Integrity
Risti Zahroh, M.Sc., Manager of the Nature-Based Solutions and Ecosystem Services Program at The Landscape Group, emphasized that carbon markets are not a substitute for the obligation to reduce emissions. Carbon markets are one instrument that can help finance mitigation activities, but their credibility depends on the integrity of the credits generated.
Risti emphasized that high-integrity carbon credits must be supported by real and additional emission reductions, conservative baselines, permanent and measurable outcomes, prevention of double counting, and transparent safeguards and benefit sharing for communities.
According to her, carbon markets should not stop at transactions, but should be directed toward becoming a long-term financing mechanism that safeguards environmental and social integrity.
Agroforestry Opens the Way Toward More Investable Enterprises
Weny Faradita A, Senior Partnership and External Relation Lead at Avantierra, highlighted the need to move social forestry groups beyond legal access toward stronger business development.
According to Weny, investors do not only look at labels such as “bioeconomy” or “green business.” Investment feasibility is still determined by revenue, profitability, risk, value chains, business management, and market access.
Weny explained that agroforestry can help reduce business risk through commodity diversification and multiple sources of farmer income.
Its development can be supported through grants as first-loss capital, technical assistance, impact loans, and phased investment, with stronger market access as one of the keys to making business groups increasingly financeable.
Keeping Peatlands Wet While Keeping Businesses Running
Closing the speaker session, Johan Kieft, Senior Programme Manager at UNEP, highlighted opportunities to build businesses compatible with the characteristics of peatland ecosystems.
According to Johan, peatland-based economic activities need to meet three main conditions: they must be economically viable, support climate objectives, and be resilient. Commodities should not encourage renewed peatland drainage.
He cited sago, jelutung, rattan, and business models such as Alam Siak Lestari as examples of activities that can connect peatland protection with livelihoods and economic value addition.
Johan also highlighted the time lag before harvest as one of the financing challenges for peatland-based businesses, as some commodities may require around five to eight years before generating income.
To bridge this gap, financing needs to be tailored to each stage of business development, from preparation and risk reduction, to business development, and eventually to commercial financing once revenues become more stable.
From Potential to Investment-Ready Projects
Summarizing the discussion, moderator Erwin Widodo, Ph.D., GLS stated that the six perspectives presented by the speakers pointed in the same direction: the green economy still requires a strong bridge between policy and investment.
Projects need clear business models, data, governance, risk management, and implementation capacity. No single financing instrument can address every need, so each project requires a financing structure suited to its characteristics and stage of development.
Erwin also emphasized that environmental integrity and social benefits are not add-ons to green investment, but part of the quality of the investment itself.
Therefore, collaboration among government, financial institutions, investors, businesses, communities, development partners, and knowledge institutions becomes the foundation for moving potential into a pipeline, then into investment-ready projects, and ultimately into investments that deliver tangible impacts.
GREEN CONNECT #3 demonstrated that Riau has multiple entry points for advancing the green economy, including blended finance, carbon markets, Islamic finance, agroforestry, bioenergy, and peat-friendly businesses.
The challenge is to ensure that all of these opportunities have clear business models, markets, governance, risk management, and measurable environmental and social benefits.
Through the GREEN for Riau Initiative, the Riau Provincial Government, together with the UNEP UN-REDD Programme and partners, continues to promote collaboration and knowledge exchange so that climate policy can become increasingly connected with financing and real action at the site level.