Company Bosses Gather! Environment Minister Announces Changes to PROPER System for 2026

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The Minister of Environment and Head of the Environment Control Agency (KLH/BPLH) Hanif Faisol Nurofiq has stated that the PROPER assessment system/mechanism will be changed. He conveyed this during the PROPER 2025 Environmental Awards event at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah on Tuesday (7/4/2026).

Hanif explained that the establishment of the Ministry of Environment/Environment Control Agency (KLH/BPLH) by President Prabowo Subianto underscores the government’s commitment to direct involvement in supervising and enforcing environmental management and regulation.

For this reason, he added, the implementation of PROPER must also adapt to align with these government policies.

PROPER, or the programme for assessing company performance ratings in environmental management, serves as an instrument to encourage industrial compliance with environmental regulations, even going beyond mere compliance.

PROPER was initiated in 1995, now entering its third decade. According to the Deputy for Pollution Control and Environmental Damage (PPKL) of KLH/BPLH, Rasio Ridho Sani, the number of PROPER participants continues to grow.

It was noted that PROPER 2025 participants increased by 981 companies, or 21.8%, from 4,495 in the previous year to 5,476 units across 299 industrial sectors.

Meanwhile, there are approximately 72,000 companies that should participate in PROPER. This means that in PROPER 2025, only 7.6% of companies are involved in the programme.

Hanif stated that as minister, the Minister of Environment has only two main tasks. However, with the addition of BPLH, the minister’s duties have expanded to include supervision and enforcement of compliance in environmental management in accordance with applicable laws.

“What does this mean? It means the central government will directly conduct supervision and control, law enforcement, and technical guidance across all levels of environmental protection implementation,” said Hanif.

He clarified that Article 73 of Law No. 2/2009 on Environmental Protection and Management stipulates that the minister must conduct supervision when governors, regents, or mayors fail to do so. Article 77 of the same law requires the minister to enforce the law when regents or mayors should but do not.

This is why, Hanif emphasised, the implementation of the PROPER 2025 Environmental Awards differs from previous years.

“In previous years, PROPER was carried out by institutions within the Ministry of Environment at that time. But this year and in the future, PROPER will be conducted as mandated by Article 70, regarding our obligation to supervise and ensure environmental compliance for all business units across Indonesia,” said Hanif.

“For this reason, in 2026 (PROPER 2026), we will attempt to conduct assessments as part of our obligation to the state in supervising all business units in Indonesia,” he continued.

With 74,000 companies already holding UKL-UPL and AMDAL documents, these companies will undergo routine supervision at least every six months. They will be required to submit electronic reports every six months, including all required aspects.

“Through this electronic reporting information system, we will develop a broader reach combined with performance ratings for environmental compliance. This assessment will be very broad and extensive, certainly involving district/city and provincial governments,” explained Hanif.

This system, he said, is for the accountability of district/city and provincial governments in environmental supervision. As stipulated in Article 112 of the Environmental Law, if regents, mayors, or governors fail to supervise environmental protection and an incident occurs resulting in death, they face criminal penalties.

“Therefore, the future PROPER model must be developed more broadly. Not just for accolades, but as an obligatory step. Going forward, we will combine PROPER with supervision and law enforcement values,” he stated.

“In the future, more systematic steps are needed to ensure no business unit escapes responsibility under our national laws,” he emphasised.

On the other hand, Hanif acknowledged the challenges related to capacity for supervising around 74,000 companies.

“We are fully aware that with 74,000 business units obligated to have UKL, UPL, and AMDAL, it is far beyond our reach for compliance supervision. The number of environmental supervisors and law enforcers is no more than 3,000 across Indonesia, from district/city to provincial levels up to the Ministry of Environment,” he revealed.

“One can imagine, with the rigidity of environmental documents and the significant gap between the number of supervisors and business units, aspects like this must concern us all,” said Hanif.

Meanwhile, the Deputy for Pollution Control and Environmental Damage (PPKL) of the Ministry of Environment/Environment Management Agency (KLH/BPLH), Rasio Ridho Sani, stated that to increase the number of companies participating in PROPER, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based system will be developed.

This system is expected to have sufficient capacity as the number of PROPER participants continues to increase.