ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain.
Sec. Sustainable Organizations
This article is part of the Research TopicAI-driven Multidimensional Approaches for ESG-oriented Urban Regeneration and Real Estate ValuationView all 3 articles
From Biodiversity to ESG: Evaluating Disclosure Approaches of Companies Operating in Indonesia
Provisionally accepted
Maheshika Senanayake1
Fajar Kristanto Gautama Putra2Richard P. Gregory3
Iman Harymawan2Jay Hyuk Rhee1
Yong Sik Ok1,4*- 1Korea University, Seongbuk-gu, Republic of Korea
- 2Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia
- 3East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, United States
- 4Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Biodiversity and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) are becoming critical national interest in Indonesia. This study explores biodiversity and ESG disclosure practices of Indonesian and Korean companies operating in Indonesia, providing a comparative analysis of their performance and disclosure patterns. The sample comprises 70 companies including top 30 Indonesian companies with lowest ESG risk according to Sustainalytics in 2023 and Korean financial firms with highest revenue operating in Indonesia. Two quantitative assessments were conducted: a five-year biodiversity disclosure analysis (2019–2023) and an ESG performance evaluation for 2023. Findings showed that in biodiversity disclosure, overall awareness of companies was increasing; less significance had been given to biodiversity by most of the companies. The proportion of Indonesian firms publishing sustainability reports increased from 56.7% in 2019 to 96.7% in 2023, but only 7% treated biodiversity as a material topic and 27% aligned with GRI 304 standards on biodiversity. Indonesian companies show a structured approach to ESG, with defined frameworks and long-term planning, yet lack measurable outcomes and extensive third-party validation. Korean companies showed strong ESG standards but faced challenges in establishing clear frameworks and roadmaps. While both sets of companies were engaged in sustainability, Korean firms exhibited relatively lower biodiversity prioritization and ESG integration compared to Indonesian companies. These insights highlighted the importance of integrating biodiversity within ESG strategies to bridge the gap between corporate sustainability commitments and tangible environmental outcomes. This research also showed the need for policy support, including biodiversity-specific guidelines and financial incentives in Indonesia to encourage companies to integrate biodiversity strategically within their ESG goals.
Keywords: Sustainability metrics, Corporate transparency, Regulatory frameworks, Nature positive business, Sustainable development goals
Received: 18 Jul 2025; Accepted: 10 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Senanayake, Putra, Gregory, Harymawan, Rhee and Ok. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yong Sik Ok
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