Introduction
Discover how hearts and minds are being shifted on climate change in Indonesia and empowering the Islamic community to take climate action through the concept of Green Islam, which merges Islamic principles with climate advocacy.
This presentation is from a session by Elok Faiqutol Mutia at the FWD+Organise 2024 Conference held in Naarm|Melbourne. Elok is a climate campaigner in Indonesia.
Breaking Out of the Echo Chamber
After discovering in a 2019 survey that Indonesia had the highest levels of climate change denialists in the world Elok realised the need to have climate conversations with everyone.
There is the need to break the echo chamber – climate change is not just for academics, activists, and bureaucrats – it belongs to everyone. – Elok Faiqutol Mutia
Climate and environmental issues were not a top priority for the public because the discourse was limited to activists, academics, and bureaucrats. The public perceived it as an “elite” issue that was less urgent for them.
They did not see climate change as an issue that would impact their livelihood, safety, health, and prosperity, because very rarely was climate change talked about in this way.
Not everyone needs to be an activist, but we do need everyone to take action to save our planet. – Elok Faiqutol Mutia
Green Islam
In order to build critical mass that can move the needle on climate change, we needed to break the climate bubble. – Elok Faiqutol Mutia
To break the bubble and empower the Indonesian Islamic community to take climate action, Elok focused on the concept of Green Islam, which merges Islamic principles with climate advocacy.
Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world and presents a significant opportunity to move a huge faith community on climate action.
A study also showed that religious leaders are the most trusted. Religious leaders have a good awareness about climate issues, and they have the capability and credibility to speak about it to their audience. Including them in campaign efforts could make public mobilization for climate more impactful.
Religious leaders are important climate allies. – Elok Faiqutol Mutia
Ms. Mutia said she believed Islam could offer Indonesians a gentler message about environmental conservation, pointing to a survey that found that Indonesian Muslims heed religious leaders more than scientists, the media and the president.
“Environmental activism always uses negative terms like ‘Phase out coal, reject coal power plants!’” Ms. Mutia said. “We want to show that in Islam, we already have values that support environmental values.” – Source
4 Islamic Climate Audiences
To engage different people to take climate action, Elok researched and developed four audience personas based on Islam and their care for the climate and environment.
1. The Climate Caliphs

This audience are devout Muslims who deeply care about the environment. They tend to have higher education, which makes them informed about environmental or climate issues; therefore, it is their top priority. They tend to have high income level and they are likely to contribute to Islamic philanthropy for climate.
- 41% of audience
- They tend to be female
- They have passed their early adulthood (25+)
- Highly religious
- Tend to be unmarried
- Upper income, White Collar Workers
- Environment / Climate is a top concern
- Instagram is their preferred social platform
2. The Eco-Hijrah Community

This audience are also devout Muslims. Even though environment/climate is not a top concern for them, they are aware of the problems and may take some small individual actions to care for the earth. Economic issues are what they care about the most. Many of them are future oriented business owners, so they care about taking actions that will yield long term benefits.
- 24% of audience
- No gender difference
- Tend to be Gen X (45-54)
- Highly religious
- Alot of them are older singles / Post marriage
- Upper income, Entrepreneurs / Business Owners
- Environment / Climate is not a top concern, but they are aware of the problems and take some personal action
- WhatsApp is their preferred social platform
3. The Aspiring Ummah

These are the moderately religious who do not really think about environmental or climate issues. What they care about are education, poverty, and employment. But many of them are influential figures in each of their communities. They also tend to have more pride in the identity that they belong in.
- 23% of audience
- They tend to be male
- Tend to be older Millenials (35-44)
- Moderately religious
- No difference in marital status
- Middle to Lower income
- Environment / Climate is not really on their minds
- No preference in social platform
4. The Responsible Citizens

These are people who are not very religious or not religious at all. They have high awareness about climate or environmental issues. However, their actions are limited by resources, as most of them are young and financially constrained. They value equality, in that they believe that everyone has a voice and should be respected.
- 9% of audience
- They tend to be male
- Tend to be below 24 (Gen Z)
- Somewhat not religion
- Unmarried
- Middle to Lower income, students / early career/ unemployed
- Aware of environmental / Climate issues
- YouTube is their favorite social platform
The different audiences are taken on a ladder of engagement journey starting with low-barrier actions such as clicking / liking a social media post and/or signing a petition to becoming more engaged by taking bigger actions such as donating, attending events, and becoming involved as organisers.
Enabling action is the new awareness raising. – Elok Faiqutol Mutia

Meeting People Where They are at
Elok also takes a gentle, nonjudgmental approach by engaging people with problems they have on the ground, such as engaging with farmers. The farmers may not understand climate change science, but they know that their crops are being impacted. They try not to judge others lifestyles but emphasise what they can contribute and give them space to brainstorm to come up with solutions together based on their situation.
They provide support through a knowledge hub on the website for MOSAIC which stands for Muslims for Shared Action on Climate Impact (Kolaborasi Umat Islam untuk Dampak Perubahan Iklim). MOSAIC aims to spotlight the intersection of Islam and climate and empower the ummah to drive climate action in Indonesia.
The Knowledge Hub serves as a central platform for disseminating information, resources, and educational materials related to climate change from an Islamic perspective.
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About the Speaker
Elok Faiqotul Mutia is a climate campaigner with over eight years of experience in advancing energy transition and environmental sustainability in Indonesia. As the co-founder of Enter Nusantara, a youth-led movement, she has been pivotal in mobilizing young people to engage in renewable energy and climate action.
Elok also works with Purpose, a global social impact agency, where she leads Sedekah Energi, an initiative that leverages digital platforms for almsgiving to support solar energy installations in mosques. Her work focuses on combating misinformation and disinformation related to climate change while promoting the concept of Green Islam, which merges Islamic principles with climate advocacy. Elok is passionate about using digital tools to amplify grassroots movements and shift public narratives towards environmental justice.
Explore Further
- Enter Nusuntara
- Selfless climate actions: A meld of Islam and environmentalism in Indonesia, TRT World
- Green Islam
- Climate Activism: Start Here
- Why North-South Intersectionality Matters in Climate Justice: Perspectives of South Asian Australian Youth Climate Activists
- Four Stages of Climate Action Framework
- 9 Tools to Deepen your Understanding of the People you Want to Engage in Campaigns
- Building Leadership Capacity: The Ladder of Engagement
- Tending the Soil: Lessons for Organizing