Green Building Certification and Sustainable Subsidised Housing in Indonesia: Progress or Overregulation?
One does not overlook the importance of regulatory efforts to help in the fight against excessive carbon emissions. In developing countries such as our own, immediate survival needs and economic growth often take precedence over climate action, pushing the environmental agenda to the sidelines. This fact however is not an excuse that nature is willing to accept, climate change waits for no man or nation. Government incentives and regulations play an even more crucial role in the Global South, where they are often the primary force driving the climate agenda. In contrast, the Global North benefits from additional drivers such as market incentives and technological advancements.
The built environment is one of the major, if not the biggest, contributors to carbon emissions globally, with construction and housing playing a significant role. This makes intervention in the sector particularly crucial, especially in developing countries undergoing rapid urbanization. In Indonesia, new policies are pushing subsidised housing developers to obtain green building certification for their new developments in an effort to integrate sustainability with socioeconomic priorities. The road ahead, as highlighted by Fitrah Nur, the Director General of the Ministry of Housing and Settlements (PKP), envisions that future green-certified subsidised housing developments will have access to up to 50% more in government budget allocations for supporting infrastructure compared to current arrangements. While all this is well-intentioned, challenges persist in its real-world implementation, ranging from corruption to the threat of overregulation.
Indonesia's green building certification landscape is crowded with a range of standards from both national and international NGOs, various financial institutions with their own benchmarking criteria, and a government-controlled certification that is progressing slowly compared to its counterparts. This created unnecessary complexity for developers, architects, and other stakeholders in the built environment, who are left navigating a tangled web of fragmented systems. A recent study by JLL Indonesia indicated that the most sought-after green building certification in the country is the Greenship certification by the Green Building Council Indonesia (GBCI), followed by EDGE. Notably, the government-sanctioned certification is not the most commonly adopted among developers. For an issue as multifaceted as climate change, having multiple solutions that don’t exactly complement one another is a step backward, leading to overregulation that hampers progress toward the promising future intended by each of these initiatives.
While any progress toward improvement, no matter how small, is a step in the right direction; we must acknowledge that the journey toward a sustainable built environment is not a sprint, but a marathon. Achieving this vision requires the collective effort of all stakeholders including but not limited to consultants, developers, and governments. By working together rather than in isolation, we can ensure that the strides we make today pave the way for a greener and more sustainable future for all.
References
Karim, Yunus, and Prisca Winata. “Indonesia’s Journey towards Sustainable Real Estate.” JLL Indonesia, November 3, 2022. https://www.jll.co.id/en/trends-and-insights/research/indonesia-journey-towards-sustainability-real-estate
Pristiandaru, Danur Lambang. “Pengembang Rumah Bersubsidi Diminta Punya Sertifikat Bangunan Hijau.” KOMPAS.com, January 30, 2025. https://lestari.kompas.com/read/2025/01/30/090000486/pengembang-rumah-bersubsidi-diminta-punya-sertifikat-bangunan-hijau
