POHUWATO, Indonesia — Heavy trucks roll toward a semiremote coastline here on Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island before idling alongside a waiting barge, which will later make a vast shipment of wood pellets to Japan and South Korea. The shipping terminal was built by PT Biomasa Jaya Abadi (BJA), an Indonesian firm with ambitions to become a global leader in the trade of wood pellets, which are increasingly burned alongside coal in power plants by countries trying to cut back on fossil fuels. BJA trumpets its green credentials, writing on its website that it “embrac[es] biomass as a renewable energy source, emphasizing its role in reducing carbon emissions and fostering sustainability.” However, the lofty talk masks a more carbon-intensive reality: BJA’s wood pellets came from the clear-cutting of more than 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of Sulawesi rainforest. It’s just the latest example of deforestation-for-biomass-energy in Indonesia, with similar cases emerging in North Kalimantan and South Papua provinces. BJA is one of seven Indonesian companies exporting wood pellets. At the same time, Indonesia has established its own targets for raising production of biomass energy, derived from burning organic materials such as wood chips. While the Southeast Asian nation currently relies on coal to generate two-thirds of its own electricity, it has committed to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 31.9% before 2030. Planned improvements in the land-use sector, such as rules restricting new plantations on carbon-rich peatlands, account for most of Indonesia’s anticipated…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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