Yogyakarta, June 19th 2025 – Bulaksumur Roundtable Forum (BRF) was held again through The Clinics series which this year focused on the theme “Opportunities for Zakat, Infaq, Sadaqah, and Waqf (ZISWAF) to Build Participative Climate Finance in Indonesia”. Located at the 4th Floor Auditorium of FISIPOL UGM, this forum became a forum for cross-sector discussions to explore the potential of social funds as an instrument of inclusive and sustainable climate crisis financing. The forum presented a variety of speakers from philanthropic institutions, Islamic finance, to government agencies. Some of them were Syamsul Ardiansyah (Senior Officer of Strategic Alliance Dompet Dhuafa), Dede Haris Sumarno (Commissioner of Supervision and Governance of the Indonesian Waqf Board), and Nur Fadilah (ESG Operation and Communication Head of Bank Syariah Indonesia). In addition, the forum also involved academics and climate policy experts to enrich perspectives.
As a country with the largest moslem population in the world, Indonesia has great potential in religious value-based social fundraising. The forum emphasized that ZISWAF not only plays a role in socio-religious aspects, but can also be mobilized to support environmental projects such as waqf forests, nature conservation, clean energy transition, and climate-friendly infrastructure development.
As part of the initiative to strengthen the role of ZISWAF in climate financing, Budi Margono, Head of the Promotion Division of the Collection Division of the National Amil Zakat Agency (Baznas), announced the launch of the Green Zakat Framework developed with Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI). This framework is designed to integrate sustainability principles in zakat management, so that zakat is no longer solely seen as an instrument of poverty alleviation but also as a driving force for green development.
In his presentation, Budi emphasized that green zakat can be a multifunctional solution that touches aspects of social justice, economic empowerment, and environmental preservation. “The position of zakat in the context of green development can be seen from various perspectives, namely social justice, empowerment, economy, and environmental preservation. Green zakat can be directed to prevent natural damage such as deforestation,” he said. This initiative is expected to encourage a new approach in the management of zakat funds that is responsive to the challenges of the climate crisis.
Organized in collaboration between MOSAIC (Muslims for Shared Action on Climate Impact), Pares UGM, and the Department of Politics and Government of FISIPOL UGM, this forum brought together academics, students, environmental activists, zakat management institutions, as well as government and private sector representatives. They discussed the opportunities and challenges of integrating ZISWAF in the Participative Climate Finance scheme—climate finance that involves community awareness and collective action.
With the spirit of cross-sector collaboration, BRF The Clinics 2025 aims to formulate climate finance alternatives derived from the power of public participation and community solidarity. This effort is in line with the sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially points 1 (No Poverty), 10 (Reduced Inequality), 13 (Handling Climate Change), 15 (Terrestrial Ecosystems), and 17 (Partnerships to Achieve Goals). Through this forum, BRF invites all elements of society to strengthen civil society partnerships to see the issue of climate change as a shared responsibility and requires mutual cooperation across faiths, sectors and generations.