‘Philanthropy doesn’t lead to sustainability’

(News Terupdate) - Long gone are the days when companies viewed CSR as mere charity or – less scrupulously – damage control initiative.

Total E&P Indonesie, the first and largest gas producing operator in Indonesia, believes sustainability is about changing the mindset of the community alongside working together with authorities at all levels.

Total, dubbed one of the “supermajor” international energy companies of the world today, has a presence in Indonesia that dates back to 1968.

With operations concentrated in the offshore Mahakam block in East Kalimantan, Total contributes about 80 percent of the Bontang LNG Plant supply while Indonesia represented 8 percent of the French oil group’s production in 2008.

Total’s relatively long involvement with communities living around and near its installations across the globe has called for advanced social engineering in its pursuit of mutual sustainability.

“Sustainability means a company would have to work in a ‘triangle’ with civil society as well as authorities,” stated Manoelle Lepoutre, Total’s executive vice president for sustainable development and environment, during her four-day visit to Indonesia in the beginning of February.

Lepoutre took note of Total Group’s global policy to — among other things — better understand the environment it works in, protect and minimize its impact on people and the environment, and participate in the development of local communities surrounding and neighboring installations.

Yet she knew better than to renounce the group’s commercial and financial endeavors, which have contributed to its capability in maintaining decades-long worth of operations.

“We are a capitalistic industry [after all]. We have to be economic in our thinking, have to be able to invest, and have to generate confidence from shareholders in order to secure programs — including those relating to sustainability and development,” she said. The strategy, therefore, is in employing the mindset of “collective instead of individual welfare”.

Lepoutre, who first joined Total in 1982, held a variety of research and development and exploration positions in the exploration and production business before being appointed to her current position in June 2009.

She is especially keen on endorsing the use of technology for sustainability, another focus in line with Total’s anticipation of the future of energy by investing heavily in the development of alternative energies as well as production methods.

One finding that Total’s global subsidiaries have shared over the years is that “philanthropy does not effectively lead to sustainability”.

“Though CSR naturally started with programs of a philanthropic nature, [in the long run] this does not lead to sustainability,” said Lepoutre.

Total E&P Indonesie (TEPI) has experienced firsthand how involvement in education and changing the people’s mindset could prove more effective in benefiting communities for the long run.

The notion is all the more substantial in the region surrounding Total’s Handil field in the Mahakam delta — part of the Kutai Kartanegara district — where mangrove areas have steadily been converted to shrimp cultivation farms while paying little attention to rehabilitation or sustainable farming practices.

“The large-scale conversions of mangrove areas to shrimp ponds began during the 1997 monetary crisis, and delta lands have been gradually plotted for use among locals through the years,” said Andi Renggana of Total E&P Indonesie.

“Educating and promoting sustainable farming in this ecologically sensitive area is all the more complex because such effort commands the concerns of the Departments of Environment, Forestry, and Marine Affairs and Fisheries simultaneously,” he continued.

On a more non-governmental note, Total is just as keen on working in partnership with NGOs because, as pointed out by Lepoutre, “they have the competency and knowledge we don’t have [in terms of community approach and social engineering]”.

Interestingly, many of Total Group’s past and current operations are located in what are regarded as problematic and even “conflict” areas. Yet in countries like Sudan where the group’s operations have been suspended due to civil war, the group continues to forge ahead with its CSR programs. Lepoutre once again stressed the importance of social engineering in working in such environments.

Asked about her opinion regarding the state of CSR in Indonesia, she reckoned it was “understandable” that CSR becomes regulated, but believed the fact did not prevent companies from building competences.

“Even in countries where CSR is not regulated, Total tries to build the same kind of triangle relation with the civil society and government. We don’t want to be doing the work of the government, but based on our experience, if we don’t have this kind of triangle, the chances for sustainability are low.”

A tongue-in-cheek analogy would be that many companies today no longer prefer the “Santa Claus” approach.

“Total does not give away donations or charity. Instead, we invest in giving the technical support and infrastructure needed to help change the way people think and develop,” said Lepoutre.

One of TEPI’s current focus projects is the development of Muara Pantuan, a village of nearly 4,000 inhabitants set about eight kilometers from the nearest TEPI facilities.

So far, TEPI’s Solar Energy Program has been promoting the use of solar panels to provide clean and renewable energy for many diesel-dependent households through subsidies and a cooperative procurement mechanism bridging users to suppliers and local banks.

Similar cooperative programs are arranged in various residential areas and towns neighboring TEPI’s five operational sites in the area, introducing the community to new skills including those related to health (through clinics) and technology (through computer lessons).

“Though the global crisis hasn’t fundamentally changed our thinking and policies, it has prompted the civil society to be more conscious – more so in the West, perhaps,” said Lepoutre.

“Bearing in mind the recent climate change/energy crisis debate, it is expected of us to be able to change some of the rules and devise new ways of working — new business, new partnership — with those around us.”

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