Coal, Power and Coal-powered Politics in Indonesia

To identify the most useful policies, the authors of this article created detailed case studies from 2018 to 2020 on 15 key countries, which together comprise 84% of the world’s current coal power-plant capacity, and 83% of the global coal pipeline for new plants.

Indonesia is among the countries with the largest planned coal power capacity additions worldwide, thereby posing a substantial challenge for global climate change mitigation goals. To understand the underlying political drivers, the authors of this chapter carry out expert interviews and examine how individual actors and their objectives have been driven by the development of public infrastructure, while securing popularity for the presidential election in 2019.

Being the fourth-largest country, Indonesia plays an essential role in international climate protection. While the government has implemented forest and peatland protection measures, national energy planning heavily relies on fossil fuels, and is in clear conflict with the country’s climate goals.