Community Engagement

Download Community Engagement Policy (PDF)

Significance Commitment

To create sustainable values and build stakeholder’s trust as mentioned in the mission statement, the Company places a high priority on stakeholder engagement, in particular, with the local communities, who are one of the Company’s stakeholders.

Management Approach

The Company is committed to operating business strictly adhering to international guidelines, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) as well as the local labor laws of countries in which the Company operates. The Company respects freedom, equality and human dignity without discrimination against gender, race, religion or skin color in order to prevent and avoid human rights violations among employees, suppliers, customers, contractors, communities and vulnerable groups, namely children, women, the disabled, indigenous people, migrant workers and the elderly.

Year in Review

In 2022, the Company convened 26 community advisory committee meetings with all villages in Indonesia and 18 mining group-level subcommittee meetings in Australia. It was found from those meetings that most communities in Indonesia wanted to improve their quality of life in the areas of health and economy, while communities in Australia were concerned about groundwater, ongoing employment, and energy security.

This year, the Company has recorded 97 significant complaints from communities in Australia and Vietnam. For Australia, there were 95 significant complaints related to 2 main issues: noise (87 complaints) and surface cracking (8 complaints). For the cracking issue, the complaints have been resolved and closed. On the other hand, the noise issue is now the subject of engineering work, which is expected to be completed by 2023. For Vietnam, the complaint is about oil leakage from wind turbines into shrimp farms. At present, the engineering work is currently being completed while compensation is negotiated. The Company has kept complainants informed of its progress and communicated through community CCC and reported the results to the appropriate state authorities.

Social Impact Assessment

The Company gives great importance to the impact that will occur on the community and, therefore, has established a social impact assessment (SIA) in all business units prior to the commencement of the project. The information obtained from the assessment will be used to design activities that respond to community needs by mainly reducing or avoiding their impact on the community, including comparing the relief from the impact before leaving the operating area at the end of the concession. Furthermore, if project specifics change during the process, the Company has scheduled a new social impact assessment to align with the modified production activities.

Community Complaint Management
The Company has devised a community complaint management system to enable systematic management of community complaints across the business. This approach covers indigenous people management and local community restoration under resettlement management in the event of inevitable project-related displacement. Also, the Company has specified that the outcomes of community complaint management be reported regularly to the ESG and the Sustainability Committee.

Community Complaint Management in Australia

In alignment with the corporate standard, Centennial’s complaint management advertises community complaints and provides a hotline number to the public. The environmental and community coordinator is responsible for recording, investigating, and responding to complaints; developing corrective or preventative actions as appropriate; and, in accordance with the incident reporting standard, recording the complaint in the system as well as maintaining a community complaints register, which is published on the Centennial’s website monthly.

Complaint Issue – Surface Cracking in Australia

In early 2022, Centennial, a subsidiary in Australia, received 8 community-initiated inquiries and complaints in relation to this issue. The complaints were managed in accordance with the Centennial’s environmental management system meaning all contact was recorded and the Airly Community Consultative Committee advised of the nature of the complaints and subsequent response. All complaints were published on the website. Centennial has worked in collaboration with the government, National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and other stakeholders to develop a response to the issue which has included a change to the mine design and remediation strategies for the surface impacts. The outcomes of this management have also been reported to the Sustainability Committee and the ESG Committee.

Management Approach

Community Engagement Document

Social Impact Measurement: CEMS

The Community Engagement Data Management System (CEMS) is the social impact data platform. The system is designed to store, retrieve, and manage social impact data in a database that everyone can access 24/7 to utilize information for communication with relevant stakeholders.

BANPU initiated this project while receiving collaboration from its colleagues in every country since the design thinking phase, which was conducted in late 2019. Later, the development entered the POC and MVP stages before successfully launching the full system in April 2021.

Banpu continues its partnership with local communities where we operate with the main objective of uplifting the well-being of all members. The community engagement is being implemented across Banpu’s operations in Australia, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, and the USA. In 2022, a total of 156 projects were implemented with a budget of USD 2,723,167 that had a direct impact on 74,521 beneficiaries. The main proportions went on education and economic development projects which accounting for 36.33% and 28.92% respectively.

Community Development

Significance & Commitment

Community is considered to be a key stakeholder of the Company since social license to operate is a foundation of the business. Building sustainable value for the community is thus one of the Company’s key agendas.

Management Approach

Year in Review

In 2022, the Company conducted community satisfaction surveys in Indonesia. Moreover, community perception surveys were conducted in Indonesia and Australia to measure community acceptance. In Indonesia, a community perception survey was conducted at the communities surrounding Embalut mine, with the average score at the “Satisfactory” level. The Company is also planning to expand the scope of community perception surveys at other mines next year. In Australia, the survey has been conducted at mining group-level subcommittee meetings, and in 2022, strategies to improve were reviewed and applied to the implementation in order to secure the local perception at the “Satisfactory” level.

Stakeholder Satisfaction Survey

In 2022, the Company conducted community satisfaction surveys covering 17 community development programs of 4 Indonesian mines. The average satisfaction rating was 85% or at the “Satisfactory” level.

Stakeholder satisfaction on community development projects

Since 2015, Banpu has conducted stakeholder satisfaction surveys with community members and local government staff on community development projects at all mine sites in Indonesia. The objective of this survey is to understand their satisfaction towards community development projects that are supported by the Company. Upon reviewing the information, Banpu also utilizes this data to uplift its performance as well as to design and shape community development programs. In 2022, the Company conducted community satisfaction surveys covering 17 community development programs. The average satisfaction rating was 85%, or at the “Satisfactory” level.

Social Benefits

Highlight of Community Engagement Program

Computer Training Center

The Turbaindo mine in Indonesia assists local people and students by improving their computer literacy. The Company established the Computer Training Center called LPK Media Citra Mandiri, which became a place to learn about computer skills. This project has been established since 2016. At present, the total number of graduated students is 390, from various occupations such as teachers, students, workers, and village government officers. It is clearly seen that the program benefits the local members by supporting their job opportunities in computer literacy. The Computer Training Center project received a silver category award in the CSR and Sustainable Rural Development (SRD) Award, organized by the Ministry of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration, Indonesia.

Economic Development Project at Solar Power Plant

The community development program has been formulated to ensure better living conditions and the sustainability of the local community members. The program has helped enhance the collaboration between the Company and the community. According to the community consultation, the development of local employment opportunities has been indicated as a way to increase family income. Thus, the solar power plant designed a program to boost the local economy by employing local people to perform work on the Company’s site. The work includes weeding, solar panel cleaning and bolt tightening. In addition, all workers will be equipped with the necessary skills, especially focusing on safety prior to performing job duties.

Mandalong Community Fund

CEY allocate $50,000 per annum to the Mandalong Mine Community Fund to support the local community initiatives that will benefit local residents. Funding can be in the form of charitable donations for one-off activities events or investment into community infrastructure, equipment, projects, programs.