b-panel® at Asia-Pacific Green Building Conference 2014

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PT BE Putra has always been in the forefront of environmentally-responsible business practices in Indonesia, as well as trying to be one of the shapers of green building material manufacturing in the region. Although still fairly small in business size (Under 100 employees, this was the reason it won Best SME at Sustainable Business Awards Indonesia 2013), but it has been consistently pulling well above its weight, relying on 100% biofuel, pushing near-zero waste operations, and even refusing to accept projects associated with socially and environmentally damaging industries, such as coal mining and tobacco.

As such, Green Building Council Indonesia (GBCI) invited PT Beton to be one of the featured speakers at the 2014 Asia-Pacific Green Building Conference, organized at Pullman Hotel Podomoro City Jakarta in May of 2014. During the first day afternoon speaking slot, Don Kamarga, Managing Director of PT BE Putra, shared with the audience, which included many representatives from overseas chapter of Green Building Council, the challenges and motivations of pushing hard and staying true on environmentally sustainable practices, in spite of skepticism resulted from the rampant greenwash practice – merely using “Green” as a commoditized marketing jargon.

The takeaways that PT BE Putra wished to share during the event were: that businesses do not have to grow big first to do the right things, as these actions are not the typical CSR merely for public relation purpose. Secondly, that if from a smaller size a business can be environmentally responsible, it is even easier to stay that way when it becomes bigger and stronger, and at the end, a positive brand equity will be established naturally, not through image crafting by strategic branding consultant and extensive marketing campaign.

The b-panel^® team who staffed the 2-day event listened and learned a great deal about sustainable building practice from the many experts presented there. As a bonus, the team was able to take a team picture with Ibu Risma, the mayor of Surabaya, after she shared her experience with the audience during the morning session. PT BE Putra wish to express gratitude to Ibu Naning Adiwoso, president of GBCI, for including PT BE Putra in this important regional sustainability event.