- An analysis by the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL) finds that the country’s energy transition plans do not address the remaining impacts of coal plants such as pollution, degraded ecosystems and lost livelihoods.
- This raises a critical question about what happens to the communities and environments left behind as the country plans to retire its coal-fired power plants to tackle climate change.
- In Cirebon, West Java province, fishers and farmers had to change professions when their land was used for a coal plant; now, some want to return to their former work, but their lands and sea are polluted and degraded from years of coal plant operations, and traditional livelihoods are no longer viable.
- ICEL program deputy director Grita Anindarini said Indonesia could benefit from drawing examples from other countries or jurisdictions whose transitions are designed to remedy harm, with land redistribution, economic diversification and Indigenous rights being central to their plans.
JAKARTA — As Indonesia, one of the world’s biggest polluters, plans to retire its fleet of coal-fired power plants to tackle climate change, one critical question is being overlooked: What happens to the communities and environments they leave behind?
An analysis by the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL) found that environmental legacy impacts, such as pollution, degraded ecosystems and lost livelihoods, are not integrated into current transition plans.
Indonesia’s current regulatory framework, particularly the 2009 electricity law, does not mandate post-operation planning for coal-fired power plants. This is a stark contrast to the mining law, which obliges post-operation rehabilitation.
As a result, environmental impact assessments, known as AMDALs in Indonesia, for coal plants routinely exclude post-closure recovery plans, leaving behind long-term environmental degradation and unaddressed social costs once plants are shut down.
ICEL reviewed the AMDALs of six coal plants on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Bali and found that most lacked any mention of post-operation planning or environmental recovery measures.
“What we found is that post-operation impacts assessed mostly relate to demolition dust or noise from increased truck traffic,” ICEL program deputy director Grita Anindarini said during a recent event in Jakarta.
This limited focus suggests AMDALs are treating closures as construction projects, rather than as opportunities for environmental recovery and justice.
This is despite a well-documented history of coal plants damaging ecosystems and disrupting livelihoods across the archipelago.
In Bali, the Celukan Bawang coal-fired plant has been blamed for damaging coral reefs and coastal ecosystems, which has negatively affected local fisheries and biodiversity.
The expansion of coal plants and coal mining have also resulted in loss of farmland and forests, reducing access to forests, agricultural products and clean water for local communities.
Therefore, for coal power plants that are going to be retired, there needs to be a revision of their AMDALs that includes comprehensive assessment on post-operation impacts and environmental legacy issues, Grita said.
Dedi Rustandi, the coordinator of renewable energy at Indonesia’s development planning agency, Bappenas, said the government welcomed the recommendation to include post-operation planning, such as environmental recovery, in the phasing out of coal.
“So that when we transition [from coal to renewable energy], there’s an aspect of justice,” he said during the event.
The absence of post-operation planning for coal plants means that Indonesia’s coal phaseout is leaving behind local communities, which are the most affected parties, Grita said.
Neglected and forgotten
In Cirebon, West Java province, people who were once fishers and farmers had to change professions because their land was used for a coal plant, and the plant discharged waste that affected local fishers, Grita said.
“When we held discussions in West Java, some local residents working at the coal plant there told us they wanted to return to farming and fishing — they asked for their old lives back,” she said.
But their land and sea are no longer what they were — polluted and degraded by years of coal plant operations, their traditional livelihoods are no longer viable, Grita said.
And without a concrete roadmap for environmental and rights restoration, it will be even more difficult for them to get their old lives back, she said.
Not only are these communities rarely mentioned in AMDAL documents, they’re also often excluded from discussions in the retirement of coal plants, Grita said.
Instead, the process to retire coal plants mostly focuses on formal workers, i.e., how to equip them with different skills, she said.
For local people, including those who work in the power plant as outsourced and unskilled labor, they are often neglected and the most vulnerable, Grita said.
These workers often lack job security, union rights or even access to information about transition plans.
“For example, in the Cirebon power plant, workers aren’t allowed to form labor unions. Many of them are outsourced workers, so there’s no job security. Most of these outsourced workers are unskilled,” Grita said.
This represents a huge gap between policy and the reality on the ground, she said.
Indonesia’s energy transition policy tends to focus on reskilling formal workers. However, many outsourced workers are still struggling for the recognition of their rights to unionize, earn decent wages and have workplace safety, Grita said.
“There’s a narrative about the need for reskilling workers, but what they’re actually asking for is the fulfillment of basic rights,” she said. “So maybe the priority isn’t always reskilling or upskilling — maybe it’s environmental restoration so they can return to those livelihoods.”
By restoring the environment, plant operators are also restoring the rights of affected community members, Grita pointed out.
Lack of vision
The issue is compounded by the lack of detailed transition plans at the local level, ones that are based on what the communities need, Grita said.
ICEL reviewed strategic environmental assessments, known as KLHS, in six regional development plans (RPJMDs), and found that most don’t include energy transition goals.
Only two out of the six local governments acknowledge the need for energy transition, but they propose simplistic diversification plans (e.g., shifting to palm oil) without assessing other economic potentials and the potential impacts of the energy transition, Grita said.
This reveals a top-down planning culture and a lack of bottom-up community involvement, she said.
As a result, local governments often overlook the aspirations and needs of affected communities.
“Most plans just follow national directives without inventorying the strengths or potentials of each region,” Grita said.
Dedi of Bappenas said he agreed the government needs to be creative in looking at economic potential in each region, such as tourism.
Best practices
Grita said Indonesia could benefit from drawing examples from other countries or jurisdictions whose transitions are designed to remedy harm, with land redistribution, economic diversification and Indigenous rights being central to their plans.
One example is South Africa. Its just transition framework emphasizes the need to remedy past harm and redistribute land to Black communities, Grita said.
In Taranaki, a coastal and mountainous region on the western side of New Zealand’s North Island, they’ve committed to transforming the local economy into one based on tourism and food — while also developing the Māori community, she said.
“They acknowledged that tourism and food production heavily involve Māori communities, so they also planned reforestation of Māori lands,” Grita said. “This shows how economic transformation must go hand in hand with environmental restoration and Indigenous rights recognition.”
In the U.S. state of New Mexico, in addition to support for workers, there was a dedicated fund for Native American tribes affected by coal phaseout in order to support economic diversification, she said.
This was made possible by New Mexico’s bottom-up model, which requires local committees to lead transition planning, Grita said.
“It’s a useful lesson: When talking about a just energy transition and economic transformation, we can’t ignore the grassroots — because the people on the ground know their own potential best,” she said.
This bottom-up approach is something that Indonesia should adopt as well to ensure that local communities’ aspirations are being heard and their needs are met through the transition agenda, Grita said.
Besides clear vision at the local level, Indonesia is also missing clear vision on transition agendas at the national level, resulting in fragmented and conflicted understandings of what constitutes as a just transition, she said.
Some government institutions emphasize energy affordability, while civil society organizations like ICEL often promote a human rights-based approach in the energy transition agenda.
Without a shared vision, current efforts will remain fragmented and incoherent and risk building a new energy system on the same foundation of exclusion and inequality, Grita said.
“We need a single national document that articulates a shared vision for a just transition, one that brings all stakeholders onto the same page,” she said.
Banner image: View of Suralaya coal power plant in Cilegon city, Banten Province, Indonesia. Image courtesy of © Kasan Kurdi / Greenpeace.
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