The Indonesian government will take a tougher stance against companies that do not care about the environment.
Companies that neglect environment management will be given sanctions, state minister for environmental affairs, Gusti Muhammad Hatta, said here on Saturday.
He made the statement after attending the presentation of awards to winners of animal photo competition held to mark the Love Flower and National Animals Day at Hotel Safari Garden, Bogor, West Java.
“Many companies still have a black mark. We will give them sanctions if they would not change,” he said.
Quoting the results of Company Performance Ranking Evaluation (PROPER) 2010 the minister said that there were only two companies that were considered good and received a gold mark. The rest received either red, blue, green and black marks.
The minister said the sanctions for companies that ignored environment management could be in the form of criminal or civil sanctions but they would be given in stages following an evaluation.
He said the government would take those with a black mark to court if after the second evaluation they still get a black mark.
“We will see in the second year. If the companies that have a black mark get another black mark in the second year and do not change we will give them sanctions and take them to court for a criminal and civil trial, he said.
The minister said it was very difficult to get a gold mark due to a tight evaluation. He said he would prioritize companies with a blue mark that have met standards and made no pollution.
“Companies that prevent air and water pollution get a red mark and they will get a blue mark if they later prevent hazardous B3 wastes. Their mark will turn green if they meet the blue mark requirements and carry out corporate social responsibilities (CSR), and if their internal audit and management are good they will then be awarded a gold mark. Getting a gold mark is very difficult and therefore only two companies have so far got the mark,” he said.
PROPER is one of the programs in the supervision of business enterprises` environment management activities aimed at encouraging companies to keep improving their performance in environment management.
The two companies that received a gold mark are Chevron Geothermal Indonesia Ltd., Darajat Geothermal Unit in Garut, West Java, and the Cilacap plant of PT Holcim Indonesia Tbk. in Central Java.
The minister said he would act firmly against companies that did not care about the environment and right now four companies were already being processed in court for polluting.
