Jakarta, Indonesia – APRIL Group was today announced as the winner of the Best UN Sustainable Development Goals Program Award at the Sustainable Business Awards (SBAs) Indonesia. The award recognizes APRIL Group for its work to measure the impact of its operations and strategically align its sustainability investments moving forward, using the global framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

At the SBA ceremony at the Mandarin Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sihol Aritonang, President Director, PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper, the operating arm of APRIL Group, accepted the award from the Minister of National Development Planning, Indonesia, Bambang Brodjonegoro, and Shinta Kamdani, President, Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development (IBCSD). APRIL also received a Special Recognition award in the Business Responsibility and Ethics category.

“Our operations are already aligned to our core business vision, or 5Cs. This means we operate in a manner that is good for the community, the country, the climate, our customers and then the company. But the value of the Sustainable Development Goals lies in aligning our vision with a global development framework that’s been universally endorsed by 193 countries, and really embed this framework into the way we do business,” said Mr. Aritonang.

“We welcome this award as recognition of the effort that we, as a company, put into connecting our strategies and our contributions to local, national and global priorities, and to translate this into action on the ground where we can really have an impact,” he added.

The SBAs, organized by Global Initiatives in partnership with IBCSD and professional services firm PwC, aim to increase awareness of sustainable business best-practices and demonstrate how responsible and sustainable business benefits companies, the environment and all stakeholders.

The award acknowledges the work that APRIL is completing with PwC to benchmark the company’s social, environmental and economic contributions against the SDGs. The assessment will ultimately help to guide the company’s decision-making, strategies and programs to help advance sustainable development in the areas in which it operates. In doing so, APRIL aims to enhance its contribution to the achievement of the Indonesia’s priority SDGs at a national, provincial and community level.

Shinta Kamdani, President, Indonesia Business Council Sustainable Development, said: “The private sector has a very important role in supporting sustainable development in Indonesia. The role of the IBCSD is to work with companies across different business sectors to encourage them to incorporate sustainability commitments into their operations”.

“This SBA award proves that many companies operating in Indonesia, such as APRIL Group, have a special focus on improving their performance, in the context of the sustainable development imperative and the SDG set by the United Nations,” said Ms. Kamdani.

Prior to APRIL’s current work with PwC, the Tanoto Foundation worked with the UNDP and the Riau provincial government to advance the implementation of a governance framework for SDG implementation at a district level. Between October 2015 and February 2017, a multi-partner pilot program was carried out in the province to incorporate the SDGs into sub-national development strategies and plans.

This in turn enabled three districts to optimize approaches to poverty alleviation and sustainable development. The program was supported by targets, indicators and a dashboard system to manage progress. It achieved its targets, transferred ownership to local stakeholders, and secured its extension to four more districts through to 2020.