Indonesia’s ride-hailing tech startup Gojek to make every car and motorcycle on its platform an electric vehicle (EV) by 2030

“Innovate or die” is a popular phrase first coined by the renowned Peter Drucker, who was hailed as the father of modern management. But as Harvard Business Review rightly pointed out, the origin of the phrase is a matter of some dispute. Others may have shared the phrase as well. But whatever its genesis, the sentiment is now widespread: Stay ahead of the pace of change or you’re toast.

Today, this phrase is more relevant more than ever. The world is slowly transitioning to electric vehicles. For traditional automakers, they can either get on board or drown. However, nimble tech startups are already embracing electric vehicle technology. That’s the case with Indonesia’s ride-hailing tech startup and Southeast Asia’s leading mobile on-demand services and payments platform Gojek.

Today, Gojek announced that it planned to make every car and motorcycle on its platform an electric vehicle (EV) by 2030. As part of its sustainability mission to create positive impact and long-term value for people and the planet, Gojek announced commitments to Three Zeros: Zero Emissions, Zero Waste and Zero Barriers, to be achieved by 2030. Gojek unveiled these pledges in its first annual Sustainability Report, which detailed its progress to date and way forward in implementing thorough environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices.

Founded in 2010 by Kevin Aluwi, Michaelangelo Moran, and Nadiem Makarim, Gojek is an app for ordering food, commuting, digital payments, shopping, hyper-local delivery, getting a massage, and two dozen services. It is Indonesia’s first and fastest-growing decacorn building an on-demand empire across Southeast Asia. The Gojek app was launched in 2015 in Indonesia and is now the largest consumer transactional technology group on a GTV-basis in Southeast Asia.

Focusing on where the company can make the biggest impact for all of its stakeholders in line with pressing environmental and social issues, Gojek’s approach will be structured around three specific areas: environmental sustainability (GoGreener) to achieve Zero Emissions and Zero Waste, as well as socio-economic progress (GoForward) and equality and inclusion (GoTogether) to achieve Zero Barriers.

Gojek’s ESG report is the first to be compiled by a Southeast Asian Internet company in alignment with international standards.[1] Select disclosures relating to the relevant material issues have been assured by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Indonesia[2]. Gojek is leading the region’s tech industry in integrating ESG best practices across its business and voluntarily disclosing its performance on material ESG issues.

Kevin Aluwi, Co-CEO, Gojek, said, “We have always been a company that is focused on finding the intersection of what is good for society and company growth. It is part of our DNA and the reason people come to work at Gojek. As we’ve grown, it has become more important to develop a way to make sure we hold ourselves to account and are constantly pushing forward and leading the industry on issues that are so important to us and society as a whole. That’s why we are scaling our efforts to embed environmental and social considerations into the very heart of our organization. In doing so, we hope to create lasting, impactful change for our communities, partners, and the world we live in, ensuring we can live up to our mission for the long term.”