The Nusantara Sustainable Development Goals Voluntary Local Review Baseline highlights the city’s contributions to the SDGs, including access to affordable housing and basic infrastructure services like water, transportation, and sanitation.
Indonesia’s new capital will integrate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into all aspects of its development as the Nusantara Capital Authority (NCA) launched a report that would serve as a baseline in tracking the city’s SDG commitments.
The Nusantara Sustainable Development Goals Voluntary Local Review Baseline highlights the city’s contributions to the SDGs, including access to affordable housing and basic infrastructure services like water, transportation, and sanitation. It also notes areas where improvements on SDG implementation are needed, such as potential income inequality concerns arising from economic disparity between the new Nusantara population and existing communities. The Government of Indonesia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) launched the report at the 11th Asia–Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development in February. ADB helped prepare the report.
The report lays the foundation for the development of a future Voluntary Local Review (VLR) on SDG implementation. The VLR will facilitate data-driven decision-making and serve as a benchmark in measuring progress against the SDGs, particularly for new and emerging cities where sustainable development practices are fundamental.
“The baseline report and the subsequent Voluntary Local Review represent not only a step toward Indonesia's ambitious goals of building a sustainable Nusantara, but a leap in our journey to integrate Nusantara into the global effort to achieve the SDGs outlined in the 2030 Agenda,” NCA Chairman Bambang Susantono said in a news release. “I thank ADB and our development partners for their role in realizing this effort further.”
The NCA, established in March 2022, is a ministerial-level agency that reports directly to the Indonesian President. The authority is responsible for planning and constructing the new capital, overseeing the government’s transition to the new city, and eventually becoming its manager.
“Subnational governments, such as the NCA, play an important role in implementing the SDGs,” said ADB Country Director for Indonesia Jiro Tominaga. “ADB is pleased to partner with the NCA in this baseline report on the SDGs, exemplifying how local leadership and proactive measures can drive meaningful change on a global scale.”
The development of the Nusantara Sustainable Development Goals Voluntary Local Review Baseline was made possible with financial support from the Australian Government.
Speaking at ADB’s Southeast Asia Development Symposium in March last year, Susantono said Nusantara will be the first city in Indonesia that conducts a systematic tracking and review of the SDGs, as he noted the government envisions the capital to be a model for other cities. “It is a major endeavor to create a model city that is green, smart, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable—a model that can be replicated by other new and existing cities around the globe and allow us to transition to net zero, achieve climate resilience, and ensure economic prosperity for all,” he said.