The Papua Journal – The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (EITI) International Board Meeting on May 17, 2023, resulted in an important decision in the history of transparency in extractive industry management.
Namely, the approval of changes to the EITI Standard launched at the EITI Global Conference held on June 13-14, 2023, in Senegal, attended by representatives of EITI implementing countries worldwide, including Indonesia.
The International EITI Board represents governments, business actors, and civil society from more than 50 EITI implementing members worldwide.
The EITI Standard was developed to promote good governance by increasing transparency, strengthening accountability, and facilitating public debate on natural resource management.
Since it was first launched ten years ago, the EITI Standard has evolved and established a common set of rules governing what information and when should be disclosed by governments and companies.
Significant changes in the 2023 EITI Standard include several new and enhanced provisions in four thematic areas: Anticorruption; Energy Transition; Gender, Social, and Environment; and Collection of State Revenues from the Extractive Sector.
“As a civil society coalition overseeing the birth of EITI and its implementation since the beginning, of course, we welcome the decision of the International EITI Board. This decision not only shows the progress of civil society advocacy to encourage transparency and accountability in the extractive sector. But also, it indicates that the EITI initiative does not stop at one stage, but continues to develop along with the times, “said Aryanto Nugroho, National Coordinator, Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Indonesia in a release received by The Papua Journal, Tuesday (07/18).
The beginning of EITI’s presence, which only transparency of state revenues, has now moved far to encourage transparency in almost all extractive industry business chains, including integrating anti-corruption initiatives, gender equality and justice, and attention to social and environmental issues.
Also, EITI demands efforts to encourage real improvements in extractive industry governance reform in strengthening the issue of energy transition.
Indonesia, as an EITI implementing country since 2010 with the legal umbrella of Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 26 of 2010 concerning Transparency of State and Regional Revenues Obtained from the Extractive Industry, which was later amended through Perpres Number 82 of 2020 concerning the Committee for Handling Corona Virus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) and National Economic Recovery, is expected to be a pioneer country that progressively encourages transparency and accountability in this sector.
“This is also very relevant to Indonesia, which is currently aggressively pushing for the acceleration of an equitable energy transition. On the one hand, Indonesia, as a country rich in oil and gas and mineral and coal mining products, is also faced with the challenge of how to anticipate the impact of the energy transition, especially for people living around oil and gas, coal and mineral mines such as nickel, bauxite, and others,” said Aryanto Nugroho.
Source: The Papua Journal