WWF-Indonesia Plastic Smart Cities and YouthLab Indonesia launched the Youth Sustainability Index Report 2025 at the Lestari Summit & Awards 2025, a collaborative platform organized by KG Media to bring together leaders, practitioners, academics, local communities, and innovators to shape Indonesia’s sustainability agenda.
The data-driven report serves as a benchmark to measure the perceptions, behaviours, and levels of engagement of Indonesian youth aged 16–30 years in pro-environmental and sustainable behaviour, particularly on environmental and waste management issues. Based on a survey with over 1,000 respondents in Jakarta, Bogor and Depok, the study utilizes a mixed methods approach and is supplemented by interviews with WWF subject matter leads and other sustainability experts.
Muhammad Faisal, Senior Research Advisor for YouthLab Indonesia, presenting at the Lestari Summit 2025 / © WWF-Indonesia
By sharing the study’s findings, WWF-Indonesia aims to broaden public understanding and encourage collective action toward responsible and sustainable waste management.
Key Findings of the Indonesia Youth Sustainability Index Report 2025
The research found that while most Indonesian youth have a high level of environmental awareness, there remains a gap between knowledge and real-life practice that needs to be bridged through effective policies, education, and systemic support.
Some key findings indicate that:
- Youth are the Key to Change – A quarter of Indonesia’s population is comprised of youth, who have an important role in encouraging the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. Environmental awareness and levels of environmental concern are relatively high, but self-reported practice of pro-environmental actions remain limiteds, particularly regarding waste sorting and daily consumption management.
- Social, Cultural, and Local Policy Influences Sustainable Behaviours – Bogor City, which was the first to implement regulations restricting single-use plastics, shows a higher sustainability behaviour index compared to Jakarta and Depok. A high index score indicates that youth in the city experience a healthy ecosystem for sustainability, both internally (emotion and knowledge) and externally (action and support). This aligns with the components of the Gaia Theory as applied to the Youth Sustainability Index.
Furthermore, cultural values such as Sundanese and Javanese philosophies also encourage pro-environmental practices at the community level. For instance, Sundanese teachings categorize forests into two types: Leuweung Baladahan (forests that can be utilized) and Leuweung Larang (forests that must be preserved). This classification reflects a form of community-based environmental management that aligns with the principles of sustainability, as explained in Governing the Commons (Ostrom, 1990).
- Employment and Lifestyle Factors Affects Practices – Entrepreneurs and freelancers tend to be more sustainable than office workers bound by routine.
- Community Involvement Creates Real Impact – Community involvement through collective action, such as the WWF Youth Activist Programme, is proven to increase concrete action, ranging from adopting sustainable practices such as bringing tumblers, managing waste, to encouraging plastic-free campus initiatives.
