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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/coal/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2026 23:19:53 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Coal</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/coal/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Climate shocks hit hydropower in Southern Africa, reviving interest in coal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/climate-shocks-hit-hydropower-in-southern-africa-reviving-interest-in-coal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/climate-shocks-hit-hydropower-in-southern-africa-reviving-interest-in-coal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2026 14:19:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Chisapi Kumbutso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/31093919/The_Kariba_Dam_wall_from_the_middle-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325029</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate, Climate Science, Coal, Development, Economics, Ecosystems, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Hydroelectric Power, Natural Resources, Research, Solar Power, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LUSAKA —For years, Zambia and Zimbabwe have boasted of enviable success in harnessing hydropower. More than 80% of Zambia’s power supply and about half of neighboring Zimbabwe’s supply came from hydropower sources in 2024. But climate change has continued to expose the fragility of this dependence. Successive droughts, linked to the 2023-24 El Niño, caused [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LUSAKA —For years, Zambia and Zimbabwe have boasted of enviable success in harnessing hydropower. More than 80% of Zambia’s power supply and about half of neighboring Zimbabwe’s supply came from hydropower sources in 2024. But climate change has continued to expose the fragility of this dependence. Successive droughts, linked to the 2023-24 El Niño, caused water levels in Lake Kariba, formed by a dam on Zambezi River, to drop, drastically reducing electricity generation. It precipitated one of the region’s worst energy crises in decades. Against this backdrop, coal re-emerged as an attractive, although controversial, option. According to the Global Energy Monitor&#8217;s Boom and Bust Coal 2026 report, Zambia and Zimbabwe accounted for more than two-thirds of all new coal power proposals announced in Africa in 2025. Some energy experts argue that coal offers the quickest route to stabilizing electricity supplies and sustaining industrial growth, particularly for the mining sector. Electricity systems in Zimbabwe and Zambia power mining activities, industries and help meet the needs of growing urban populations. However, others warn that expanding coal-fired power risks locking both countries into decades of carbon emissions at a time when renewable energy technologies — especially solar — are becoming increasingly affordable. For Zimbabwe, however, coal has never completely disappeared from that country&#8217;s energy landscape. Power Shift Africa Campaigns Manager Kudakwashe Manjonjo said Zimbabwe&#8217;s reliance on coal is rooted in history. “Zimbabwe has always been a significant coal-producing country. I live in Hwange, home to one of the largest coal mines on the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/climate-shocks-hit-hydropower-in-southern-africa-reviving-interest-in-coal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/climate-shocks-hit-hydropower-in-southern-africa-reviving-interest-in-coal/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325029</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Proposed mine expansion raising pollution concerns in Canada and US</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/proposed-mine-expansion-raising-pollution-concerns-in-canada-and-us/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/proposed-mine-expansion-raising-pollution-concerns-in-canada-and-us/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jul 2026 22:31:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/29150845/Image-4-Castle-Mountain-Grasslands-Siobhan-Williams-1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324789</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Canada, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coal, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Freshwater, Governance, Health, Mining, Natural Resources, Pollution, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Elk Valley in southeast British Columbia is home to Canada’s four largest coal mines. With a proposed mine expansion moving through environmental assessment, people on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border worry the valley’s decades-old pollution problem could get even worse. Industrial coal mining in the Elk Valley goes back more than 50 years. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Elk Valley in southeast British Columbia is home to Canada’s four largest coal mines. With a proposed mine expansion moving through environmental assessment, people on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border worry the valley’s decades-old pollution problem could get even worse. Industrial coal mining in the Elk Valley goes back more than 50 years. The valley’s mines, currently owned by Elk Valley Resources (EVR), supply 77% of Canada’s metallurgical coal, a grade of coal used in steel making, according to a 2024 report produced for EVR. The vast majority of this coal was exported to Asia. EVR’s largest mine, Fording River Operations (FRO), is expected to run out of coal within a decade. The proposed Fording River Extension (FRX) would open 2,031 hectares (5,019 acres) on Castle Mountain, adjacent to the existing mine, and operate for about 35 years. The FRX is currently moving through a coordinated federal-provincial environmental impact assessment. Three proposed new coal mines, not linked to EVR, are also currently in the environmental assessment process. The Fording River Operations mine, in the Elk Valley, British Columbia. The mountain top removal mining process dramatically alters topography and drainage patterns, and creates large volumes of waste rock. Image by Siobhán Winters/Wildsight. Proponents maintain the FRX is necessary to sustain economic benefits post FRO-closure, such as gross domestic product contributions, payments to governments and jobs. Others question the wisdom of expanding mining whilst unabated pollution threatens ecosystems, wildlife and livelihoods across the region. The Ktunaxa Nation Council, representing Ktunaxa&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/proposed-mine-expansion-raising-pollution-concerns-in-canada-and-us/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/proposed-mine-expansion-raising-pollution-concerns-in-canada-and-us/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324789</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fossil fuel-based mega projects displace locals in Bangladesh, pushing youth out</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/fossil-fuel-based-mega-projects-displace-locals-in-bangladesh-pushing-youth-out/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/fossil-fuel-based-mega-projects-displace-locals-in-bangladesh-pushing-youth-out/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Jul 2026 13:07:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Eyamin Sajid]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/13123859/Matarbari-coal-power-plant04-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323215</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Coal, Coastal Ecosystems, Developing Countries, Development, Economics, Energy, Environment, Fisheries, Fishing, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Land Rights, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Eid is usually a day of laughter and joy for most people in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 170 million in South Asia. But for Muhammad Gura Miya, it became a day of sadness and mourning after his only son left home on Eid in 2025 and never returned. Gura Miya, a 65-year-old resident of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Eid is usually a day of laughter and joy for most people in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation of 170 million in South Asia. But for Muhammad Gura Miya, it became a day of sadness and mourning after his only son left home on Eid in 2025 and never returned. Gura Miya, a 65-year-old resident of Maheshkhali sub-district of Bangladesh’s southeastern coastal district Cox’s Bazar, now spends his days in distress over the loss of his son. “He was my only hope and support. I don’t know where he is, or whether he is alive or dead,” Miya said. Miya is not alone. Mongabay spoke with dozens of families whose sons or household heads are missing or dead after attempting to migrate to Malaysia for work. On April 14, 2026, a small boat carrying around 250 people, including Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingya refugees, capsized in the Andaman Sea while en route to Malaysia. Only nine people were rescued; the rest remain missing. Young, unskilled people in this coastal area are risking illegal migration across the Bay of Bengal in small boats as fossil fuel projects, ports and petrochemical complexes threaten their ancestral livelihoods. A study on irregular migration from Bangladesh to Malaysia through the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea found that Cox’s Bazar has become a new hub for human trafficking to Malaysia. Construction of Matarbari deep sea port. Image by Muhammad Mostafigur Rahman. A ship at the construction of Matarbari deep sea port. Image by Muhammad Mostafigur Rahman.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/fossil-fuel-based-mega-projects-displace-locals-in-bangladesh-pushing-youth-out/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/fossil-fuel-based-mega-projects-displace-locals-in-bangladesh-pushing-youth-out/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323215</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia&#8217;s blackouts reignite debate over coal-dependent energy transition</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesias-blackouts-reignite-debate-over-coal-dependent-energy-transition/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesias-blackouts-reignite-debate-over-coal-dependent-energy-transition/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Jul 2026 09:45:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/09170445/chimneys-of-Suralaya-coal-power-plant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322168</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Java, Global, Indonesia, Java, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Energy Security, Energy Transition, Environmental Policy, Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Health, Just Transition, Pollution, Public Health, Renewable Energy, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Calls are mounting for Indonesia to accelerate its energy transition after widespread blackouts struck Java and Sumatra in recent weeks, exposing what analysts say are deep vulnerabilities in a power system that remains highly centralized and heavily dependent on coal. In late May, large parts of Sumatra lost electricity after a transmission line [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Calls are mounting for Indonesia to accelerate its energy transition after widespread blackouts struck Java and Sumatra in recent weeks, exposing what analysts say are deep vulnerabilities in a power system that remains highly centralized and heavily dependent on coal. In late May, large parts of Sumatra lost electricity after a transmission line in Jambi failed. Just days later, a separate outage disrupted power across parts of Java, Indonesia&#8217;s most populous island and economic center. While officials initially pointed to technical problems, state utility PLN later said constrained coal supplies had contributed to the Java outage. For energy analysts, the outages underscore a broader structural problem. &#8220;The dependence on a centralized, coal-dominated electricity system is a threat to energy supply security,&#8221; said Fabby Tumiwa, executive director of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR). To reduce the risk of more widespread outages, analysts at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), a U.S.-based think tank, said Indonesia should accelerate the      deployment of decentralized renewable energy, particularly rooftop solar combined with battery energy storage systems (BESS). &#8220;For Indonesia, an archipelago of thousands of islands, rooftop solar combined with battery energy storage systems offers a viable alternative to diesel power, which can be costly and challenging to supply,&#8221; IEEFA researchers Mutya Yustika and Randi Bachtiar wrote in a recent analysis. Unlike fossil fuels, they noted, solar power is not vulnerable to fuel supply disruptions or price volatility. Because rooftop systems can be installed on homes, businesses and industrial&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesias-blackouts-reignite-debate-over-coal-dependent-energy-transition/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/indonesias-blackouts-reignite-debate-over-coal-dependent-energy-transition/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322168</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Failed promises to clean air in South Africa’s coal belt take toll on public health</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/failed-promises-to-clean-air-in-south-africas-coal-belt-take-toll-on-public-health/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/failed-promises-to-clean-air-in-south-africas-coal-belt-take-toll-on-public-health/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jun 2026 06:53:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Joe Walsh]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/24064856/Kusile-Power-Station-South-Africas-largest-plant-at-4800MW-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321552</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Clean Energy, Coal, Energy, Environment, Environmental Policy, Governance, Health, Pollution, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[eMALAHLENI, South Africa — Elisabeth Moutloang, 49, lives in the shadows of Duvha Power Station, a 3,600-MW coal-fired power station owned and operated by Eskom, South Africa’s national energy provider. Between it and her community of Masakhane, in the south of eMalahleni, is a coal mine where she used to work twenty years ago as [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[eMALAHLENI, South Africa — Elisabeth Moutloang, 49, lives in the shadows of Duvha Power Station, a 3,600-MW coal-fired power station owned and operated by Eskom, South Africa’s national energy provider. Between it and her community of Masakhane, in the south of eMalahleni, is a coal mine where she used to work twenty years ago as a weighbridge clerk, monitoring the weight of coal-laden vehicles entering and exiting the mine, before it was abandoned. She left the job after seven months but in that time had developed a serious lung problem, which was detected because the mine conducts a health screening before starting employment and when an employee leaves. “When I went to have my exit medical done, I was told that I have a hole on my left lung. That&#8217;s when I started having sinus problems, that&#8217;s when I started having chest problems. At one stage I had bronchitis,” Moutloang says. “I thought I was going to die.” At the time, she had health insurance from her employer and was able to get the right medicine for the condition. Hers is not a unique story for a resident of eMalahleni (which translates to “place of coal”) located in South Africa’s eastern province of Mpumalanga, 130 kilometers (81 miles) east of Johannesburg. The town lies in the heart of the Highveld Priority Area (HPA), spanning 31,100 km encompassing 12 municipalities, which was designated in 2007 as a priority area for tackling air pollution, because the air quality was very poor. A&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/failed-promises-to-clean-air-in-south-africas-coal-belt-take-toll-on-public-health/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/failed-promises-to-clean-air-in-south-africas-coal-belt-take-toll-on-public-health/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321552</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>South Africa’s move away from coal marred by legacy of abandoned mines: Report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-africas-move-away-from-coal-marred-by-legacy-of-abandoned-mines-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-africas-move-away-from-coal-marred-by-legacy-of-abandoned-mines-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Jun 2026 07:46:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anna Weekes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/02115929/251103_Ermelo_Imbabala_CER_dp-13-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=320479</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and South Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[charcoal, Coal, Economics, Environment, Governance, Illegal Mining, Mining, Pollution, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As South Africa transitions away from coal-fired electricity, hundreds of former coal mines are turning into abandoned dumping sites for waste and polluted water, which a new report warns will continue to contaminate surrounding land and waterways for decades. Nor is the South African government taking action to force mine owners to clean them up, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As South Africa transitions away from coal-fired electricity, hundreds of former coal mines are turning into abandoned dumping sites for waste and polluted water, which a new report warns will continue to contaminate surrounding land and waterways for decades. Nor is the South African government taking action to force mine owners to clean them up, environmentalists told Mongabay. South African law requires mining companies to set aside money to clean up and restore the land after mining ends &#8211; either in trusts or through bank or insurance guarantees. But a report by the Centre for Environmental Rights found that none of the 412 coal mines that closed between 2006 and 2023 had enough money set aside to pay for the full cost of rehabilitation. The full extent of the problem is unknown as the government has failed to keep any records of mines that closed in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2021, the report said. Mining companies must clean up and rehabilitate mines, pay for the damage, and remain responsible until the government officially signs off on the closure, according to the regulations. But most mines do not keep enough money aside to cover even a fraction of the rehabilitation costs, according to the report, titled “No More Ghost Towns : Lessons From Mpumalanga’s Mine Closure Crisis” and released May 22 in Johannesburg. With more than 100 coal mines and most of the country’s aging coal-fired power stations, the Mpumalanga region is the center of South Africa’s fossil fuel-based power&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/south-africas-move-away-from-coal-marred-by-legacy-of-abandoned-mines-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-320479</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>World burned less coal in 2025, but built more plants over energy uncertainty</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/world-burned-less-coal-in-2025-but-built-more-plants-over-energy-uncertainty/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/world-burned-less-coal-in-2025-but-built-more-plants-over-energy-uncertainty/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 May 2026 06:46:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/20102003/24190342154_a7040c07b5_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319798</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central America, East Africa, United States, Zambia, and Zimbabwe]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Coal, Economics, Energy, Environment, Governance, Mining, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Coal use across the world continued to drop in 2025, but there was an increase in the capacity to burn it, according to an annual report by data analysis group Global Energy Monitor. Overall power generation from coal declined by 0.6% last year, but the amount that was on call if needed for power grids [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Coal use across the world continued to drop in 2025, but there was an increase in the capacity to burn it, according to an annual report by data analysis group Global Energy Monitor. Overall power generation from coal declined by 0.6% last year, but the amount that was on call if needed for power grids rose by 3.5%. Most of that growth was concentrated in China, where additional coal capacity is increasingly considered a backup option to ensure energy security. While China added 78.1 gigawatts of coal power capacity in 2025, its actual use of coal power fell by 1.2%. This decline was notable as it came amid an overall rise in Chinese energy demand. According to the report, more than 90% of that increased demand was met not with coal, but with wind and solar. While China remains far and away the world’s largest user of coal, more of its energy needs are being met with renewables. India added the second-highest coal power capacity in 2025, but it also showed movement toward a cleaner grid. Along with record solar and wind power additions, renewables made up more than half of the country’s overall power capacity for the first time. Christine Shearer, lead researcher of the report on the global coal power fleet, said most of the new coal capacity added in India and China was commissioned years ago, before the market dynamics around renewables had changed. “By the time all these coal plants began operating in 2025, cheaper alternatives&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/world-burned-less-coal-in-2025-but-built-more-plants-over-energy-uncertainty/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319798</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Oil surge sharpens calls for Indonesia to shift away from fossil fuels</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-surge-sharpens-calls-for-indonesia-to-shift-away-from-fossil-fuels/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-surge-sharpens-calls-for-indonesia-to-shift-away-from-fossil-fuels/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 03:23:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/04/01031350/5A269589-C332-4BC2-B240-4088D4141843-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316691</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biofuels, Carbon Tax, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Coal, Conflict, El Nino, Energy, Fossil Fuels, Just Transition, Oil, Palm Oil, Politics, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — As the U.S.-Israel war on Iran drives oil prices above $100 a barrel and disrupts global supply routes, Indonesia is once again confronting the costs of its dependence on fossil fuels — with growing calls not only to accelerate its renewable energy adoption, but also to make oil and gas companies help pay [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — As the U.S.-Israel war on Iran drives oil prices above $100 a barrel and disrupts global supply routes, Indonesia is once again confronting the costs of its dependence on fossil fuels — with growing calls not only to accelerate its renewable energy adoption, but also to make oil and gas companies help pay for the transition. The crisis is already testing the country’s energy system. Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global oil flows, have constrained supply, sending prices sharply higher from around $70 a barrel before the war began at the end of February. For Indonesia, the impact has been immediate. The country of 280 million people has been a net oil importer since 2003, and its economy remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels to power transport, industry and electricity. That dependence is now translating into rising fiscal pressure, currency risks and broader economic vulnerability. Yet the same shock is also sharpening calls to speed up the transition to renewable energy, even as policymakers move to secure more fossil fuel supplies and ramp up coal output at home. The ongoing global energy crisis, which the International Energy Agency (IEA) describes as the worst in recorded history, has laid bare the risks of Indonesia’s energy mix. The country consumes around 1.5 million barrels of oil per day but produces less than 700,000 barrels, leaving it highly reliant on imports. That exposure carries a direct cost. An analysis by the Institute for Development of Economics and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/oil-surge-sharpens-calls-for-indonesia-to-shift-away-from-fossil-fuels/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316691</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>US-Indonesia trade deal slammed as ‘extractive colonialism’ over mining, fossil fuels</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/us-indonesia-trade-deal-slammed-as-extractive-colonialism-over-mining-fossil-fuels/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/us-indonesia-trade-deal-slammed-as-extractive-colonialism-over-mining-fossil-fuels/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Mar 2026 01:31:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/13133048/indonesia-deforestation-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316400</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Coal, Critical Minerals, Deforestation, Electric Cars, Energy, Forests, Fossil Fuels, Industry, Mining, Renewable Energy, and Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Environmental activists are sounding the alarm over a new trade agreement between the U.S. and Indonesia that they warn could accelerate mining expansion, fossil fuel dependence and forest loss, while offering only weak, nonbinding environmental safeguards. Critics say the deal risks reshaping Indonesia’s development trajectory by prioritizing resource extraction over ecological protection, shifting [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Environmental activists are sounding the alarm over a new trade agreement between the U.S. and Indonesia that they warn could accelerate mining expansion, fossil fuel dependence and forest loss, while offering only weak, nonbinding environmental safeguards. Critics say the deal risks reshaping Indonesia’s development trajectory by prioritizing resource extraction over ecological protection, shifting environmental and social costs onto vulnerable communities. The agreement was signed on Feb. 19 after months of negotiations triggered by the Trump administration’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, which imposed a 32% levy on Indonesian exports. However, a day after the signing, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the tariffs, raising questions about the legal and political basis of any deals negotiated in response to a measure that no longer exists. Despite this, the Indonesian government is pushing ahead with the deal. In a March 14 press statement, officials said the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) would remain the main reference point for bilateral trade ties, describing developments including the Supreme Court ruling as domestic matters for the U.S. “At its core, this is a matter of administrative law in their country, so they must follow that investigation process. But our reference remains the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade, so we will simply proceed,” said Haryo Limanseto, a spokesperson for the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs. The agreement is set to take effect 90 days after all legal processes are completed in both countries. In Indonesia, that includes consultation with the House of Representatives. Framed in part around&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/us-indonesia-trade-deal-slammed-as-extractive-colonialism-over-mining-fossil-fuels/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316400</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s steel expansion risks a surge in greenhouse gas emissions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indonesias-steel-expansion-risks-a-surge-in-greenhouse-gas-emissions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indonesias-steel-expansion-risks-a-surge-in-greenhouse-gas-emissions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Feb 2026 04:31:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/11042419/PR-05012026-02-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314073</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporations, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Health, Industry, Planetary Health, Pollution, Public Health, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s steel industry is becoming one of the country’s fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, even as it receives far less public attention than other carbon-intensive sectors. The industry is already one of the country’s largest industrial emitters, and is set to become far more polluting if current trends continue, according to a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s steel industry is becoming one of the country’s fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, even as it receives far less public attention than other carbon-intensive sectors. The industry is already one of the country’s largest industrial emitters, and is set to become far more polluting if current trends continue, according to a report by environmental NGO Action for Ecology and People’s Emancipation (AEER). Global demand for steel is rising, driven by the expansion of electric vehicles, renewable energy and infrastructure projects. Against this backdrop, Indonesia’s crude steel production climbed to around 16.8 million metric tons, making it the world’s 15th-largest steel producer in 2023, according to the World Steel Association. AEER estimates that Indonesia’s steel output could grow twelvefold by 2060, with emissions rising 11.7 times from 2023 level if the industry continues to rely on coal-based production. At that scale, steel alone could account for around 31% of Indonesia’s national greenhouse gas emissions by 2060 if current policies remain unchanged, potentially putting Indonesia’s net-zero target out of reach. Indonesia’s high emissions stem largely from its reliance on coal-based blast furnace steelmaking, which uses coal both as a chemical input and as a source of the extremely high heat required to smelt iron ore. “The steel industry is one of the largest emitters within the industrial sector, making it a top priority for decarbonization. Steelmaking processes require extremely high temperatures, resulting in very high emissions,” said Timotius Rafael, a researcher at AEER, as quoted by local news.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/indonesias-steel-expansion-risks-a-surge-in-greenhouse-gas-emissions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314073</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia backs away from coal exit test case amid financial and political pushback</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-backs-away-from-coal-exit-test-case-amid-financial-and-political-pushback/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-backs-away-from-coal-exit-test-case-amid-financial-and-political-pushback/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jan 2026 13:44:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/15133656/8437-768x507.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312999</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Java, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Emissions, charcoal, Climate, Climate Change, climate finance, Coal, Energy, Environment, Finance, Fossil Fuels, Just Transition, Politics, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has scrapped a plan to retire a major coal-fired power plant, after having promised for years to do so. Airlangga Hartarto, the country’s chief economics minister, said in December that it would be unfeasible to shut down the 660-megawatt Cirebon-1 plant by 2035, which is seven years ahead of its [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — The Indonesian government has scrapped a plan to retire a major coal-fired power plant, after having promised for years to do so. Airlangga Hartarto, the country’s chief economics minister, said in December that it would be unfeasible to shut down the 660-megawatt Cirebon-1 plant by 2035, which is seven years ahead of its scheduled end of operation. But energy analysts and civil society groups say the decision reflects deeper political and financial resistance to moving away from coal — resistance that could undermine Indonesia’s energy transition at a time when global climate finance is becoming harder to secure. The failure of the early retirement plan for Cirebon-1 exposes how government policies that continue to protect and subsidize coal make it costly to shut plants early, they warn, even as Indonesia seeks international funding to do so. Airlangga said the decision was “based on technical considerations,” arguing that the plant, which went into operation in 2012, is still relatively young and therefore has a long operating life ahead. He also said Cirebon-1 uses “relatively better” technology that results in lower emissions, making it a less suitable candidate for early retirement compared with older, dirtier coal plants. As such, he said, the government will focus on shutting down older units, where the environmental benefits would be greater. “We will look for an alternative — one that is older and whose environmental impacts clearly mean it should already be retired,” he said on Dec. 5, as quoted by state news agency&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/indonesia-backs-away-from-coal-exit-test-case-amid-financial-and-political-pushback/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312999</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Saving forests won’t be enough if fossil fuels beneath them are still extracted, experts warn</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/saving-forests-wont-be-enough-if-fossil-fuels-beneath-them-are-still-extracted-experts-warn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/saving-forests-wont-be-enough-if-fossil-fuels-beneath-them-are-still-extracted-experts-warn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Nov 2025 11:25:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/02172845/kaltim_191418z-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=310184</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Brazil, China, Global, India, and Indonesia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, climate finance, Coal, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Fossil Fuels, Fossils, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Natural Gas, Oil, Oil Drilling, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Research, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BELÉM, Brazil — A new analysis warns that the world is overlooking a major source of future emissions hidden beneath tropical forests — and that Brazil’s newly launched Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) could dramatically expand its climate impact by addressing it. Published by the nonprofit Leave it in the Ground Initiative (LINGO), the study overlays [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BELÉM, Brazil — A new analysis warns that the world is overlooking a major source of future emissions hidden beneath tropical forests — and that Brazil’s newly launched Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) could dramatically expand its climate impact by addressing it. Published by the nonprofit Leave it in the Ground Initiative (LINGO), the study overlays forest cover with national fossil fuel deposit maps and finds that forests in 68 countries sit on top of oil, gas and coal deposits whose extraction would release an estimated 317 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases. When including all resources, not just proven reserves, the figure rises to 4.6 trillion metric tons. The 317 gigaton (Gt) figure alone exceeds the remaining global carbon budget to keep warming below 1.5° Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit), raising the stakes for countries that may be asked to choose between forest protection and fossil fuel extraction. “[We found] that governments were quite unwilling to stop fossil fuel extraction, even if it’s a national park, even if it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site, or other categories of nature conservation,” LINGO director Kjell Kühne said at a side event of the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil. LINGO argues that forests sitting on fossil reserves face heightened risk, as authorities may see extraction as too financially valuable to forgo — even where forests are intact or legally protected. Maps of TFFF biomes with underlying oil/gas and coal. Image courtesy of LINGO A blind spot in forest finance All forests identified in the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/saving-forests-wont-be-enough-if-fossil-fuels-beneath-them-are-still-extracted-experts-warn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-310184</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Indonesia turns COP30 into carbon market showcase, critics warn of ‘hot air’</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/as-indonesia-turns-cop30-into-carbon-market-showcase-critics-warn-of-hot-air/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/as-indonesia-turns-cop30-into-carbon-market-showcase-critics-warn-of-hot-air/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Nov 2025 13:34:56 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/05130450/Coal-fired-power-plant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309579</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Brazil, Global, Indonesia, Latin America, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Credits, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Market, Carbon Offsets, Climate, Climate Change, climate finance, Coal, Energy, Environment, Forest Carbon, Fossil Fuels, Just Transition, Politics, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BELÉM, Brazil — As governments debate how to mobilize trillions of dollars in climate finance, Indonesia is using the COP30 climate summit in Brazil to aggressively promote its carbon market — a system that experts say remains dogged by weak rules, questionable integrity, and uncertain climate benefits. Inside the packed Indonesian pavilion in Belém, carbon [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BELÉM, Brazil — As governments debate how to mobilize trillions of dollars in climate finance, Indonesia is using the COP30 climate summit in Brazil to aggressively promote its carbon market — a system that experts say remains dogged by weak rules, questionable integrity, and uncertain climate benefits. Inside the packed Indonesian pavilion in Belém, carbon trading dominates the agenda. On Nov. 10, Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq opened the pavilion by instructing his delegation to push hard for Article 6, the Paris Agreement mechanism that enables countries to trade carbon credits. “Whenever you enter negotiation rooms, don’t forget to convey our mission. We are serious in pushing for the implementation of Article 6,” he told officials. Indonesia, he added, should return home “with commitment [from other parties to buy] carbon credit that’s quite high [from that of other countries].” Beginning Nov. 11, the government launched a daily “Sellers Meet Buyers” session, where Indonesian state-owned companies and private project developers pitch credits to international investors. Hanif invited foreign companies to join Indonesia’s bid to “lead the global carbon market.” The commercial momentum continued on Nov. 13, when Indonesia and Norway signed a nonbinding expression of intent that could allow Norway to buy credits generated from Indonesia’s grid-connected renewable energy projects under Article 6.2. The revenue, Indonesia says, will fund floating solar installations. The government’s ambitions are enormous. It claims 13.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in potential carbon credits. If accurate, this would make Indonesia one of the biggest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/as-indonesia-turns-cop30-into-carbon-market-showcase-critics-warn-of-hot-air/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309579</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Coal-dependent South Africa struggles to make just energy transition real</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/coal-dependent-south-africa-struggles-to-make-just-energy-transition-real/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/coal-dependent-south-africa-struggles-to-make-just-energy-transition-real/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Nov 2025 12:36:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Anna Weekes]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/11115322/Sukumani2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309267</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, South Africa, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Business, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Coal, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Degraded Lands, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Green, Human Rights, Industry, Just Transition, Land Rights, Law Enforcement, Mining, Murdered Activists, Politics, Pollution, Protests, Renewable Energy, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the coal towns of northern KwaZulu-Natal, the promise of South Africa’s “just transition” feels like a distant dream. While government plans speak of a fair shift to clean energy and justice for those harmed by coal, in places like Dannhauser and Mtubatuba, families are still choking on coal dust, activists say they’re being threatened [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the coal towns of northern KwaZulu-Natal, the promise of South Africa’s “just transition” feels like a distant dream. While government plans speak of a fair shift to clean energy and justice for those harmed by coal, in places like Dannhauser and Mtubatuba, families are still choking on coal dust, activists say they’re being threatened for speaking out, and new mining applications keep arriving. Communities say the country’s transition is happening everywhere except where coal is dug from the earth. In a country where 74% of the electricity is made from burning coal, the transition to renewable energy has created a fraught environment where workers who rely on coal jobs are pitted against community members whose health and livelihoods have been damaged by coal dust, blasting and water contamination from mines and power stations. People living near the Tendele mine in KwaZulu-Natal say dust from the mine coats everything in their homes. Image by Victoria Schneider for Mongabay. In 2022, the South African government defined a just transition as one that would simultaneously address health impacts and local environmental harm caused by coal mining and generation, and the job losses and economic disruption that shutting down a vital industry would cause, with particular attention to how poor communities, women, youth and people with disabilities might be affected. The framework explained how communities affected by mining were to benefit from compensation for health and land damage, and how both workers and residents would be involved in planning and decision-making. In 2024,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/coal-dependent-south-africa-struggles-to-make-just-energy-transition-real/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/coal-dependent-south-africa-struggles-to-make-just-energy-transition-real/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309267</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rise in Chinese off-grid coal plants in Indonesia belies pledge to end fossil fuel support</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/rise-in-chinese-off-grid-coal-plants-in-indonesia-belies-pledge-to-end-fossil-fuel-support/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/rise-in-chinese-off-grid-coal-plants-in-indonesia-belies-pledge-to-end-fossil-fuel-support/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Nov 2025 10:58:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeff Hutton]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/05160232/Coal_04_RAB-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309175</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Emissions, Climate, Coal, Conservation, Electric Cars, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Mining, and Natural Resources]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A surge in the supply of Chinese-backed coal-fired power plants built to supply electricity to Indonesia’s fast-growing nickel mining and processing sector is undermining Beijing’s efforts to dial back support for fossil fuels, a study released Nov. 3 has found. In his speech to the U.N. General Assembly four years ago, China’s president, Xi Jinping, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A surge in the supply of Chinese-backed coal-fired power plants built to supply electricity to Indonesia’s fast-growing nickel mining and processing sector is undermining Beijing’s efforts to dial back support for fossil fuels, a study released Nov. 3 has found. In his speech to the U.N. General Assembly four years ago, China’s president, Xi Jinping, pledged to end his country’s official financing of overseas coal projects — usually for power plants to supply electricity to tariff-paying customers. In response, new projects backed by Chinese government entities and state-owned companies have shrunk by more than a third worldwide, according to a report released Monday that was co-authored by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air and People of Asia for Climate Solutions. Indonesia’s capacity of newly installed coal-fired power plants nearly tripled to more than 7 gigawatts the year following Xi’s announcement, as work wrapped up on projects already in the pipeline before tapering off. Still, Chinese-backed coal-fired generating capacity is going online. As of July, two coal plants to power nickel processing started operation in Indonesia’s North Maluku province, according to data from Global Energy Monitor. Chinese investment has been flowing into Indonesia’s metal mining and smelting sector in a bid to supply raw materials to electric vehicle battery makers amid a transition to the zero-emission vehicles. That inflow of investment is buttressed by a ban on nickel ore exports that was reestablished in 2020 to develop a local processing industry. Generating capacity among so-called captive coal plants&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/rise-in-chinese-off-grid-coal-plants-in-indonesia-belies-pledge-to-end-fossil-fuel-support/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/rise-in-chinese-off-grid-coal-plants-in-indonesia-belies-pledge-to-end-fossil-fuel-support/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309175</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Karen community fighting corn and coal for clean air in northern Thailand</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/karen-community-fighting-corn-and-coal-for-clean-air-in-northern-thailand/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/karen-community-fighting-corn-and-coal-for-clean-air-in-northern-thailand/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Nov 2025 02:10:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/06011059/f9172231-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308913</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Air Pollution, Bioenergy, Coal, Crops, Deforestation, Fires, Flooding, Food Industry, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Industrial Agriculture, Land Rights, Mining, Public Health, Rivers, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainable Development, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MAE CHAM/OMKOI, Thailand — Rain lashed down in the northern Thai village of Nong Krating as Sawattiphon Wongkasettakon described the worsening air pollution that sweeps in through the mountains here each year. “It didn’t used to be so bad, but in the last three years it’s become impossible to ignore,” Sawattiphon, a former deputy chief of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MAE CHAM/OMKOI, Thailand — Rain lashed down in the northern Thai village of Nong Krating as Sawattiphon Wongkasettakon described the worsening air pollution that sweeps in through the mountains here each year. “It didn’t used to be so bad, but in the last three years it’s become impossible to ignore,” Sawattiphon, a former deputy chief of the village, told Mongabay on the porch of his home in August. “The sky gets dark, it’s uncomfortable when we breathe. It blows in from the maize farms.” Farmers in the region straddling northern Thailand, Myanmar’s Shan state and Laos grow maize to supply Thailand’s booming animal feed industry. Every year before the planting season, they set controlled fires to clear their fields of crop stubble left over from the harvest. The result: surging air pollution that sends the region’s towns and cities shooting up the rankings of the world’s most polluted places every February-April, when the burning peaks. To fix the problem, Thai leaders have tried everything from threatening to cut farmer subsidies and restricting where they can plant maize, to promoting alternative livelihoods and introducing microbial sprays for stubble decomposition. But nothing seems to break the cycle of seasonal haze, which still reaches levels more than 14 times higher than what’s considered safe by the World Health Organization. In Omkoi district, which encompasses Nong Krating village in Chiang Mai province, local officials decided years ago that enough was enough. In 2017, fearing the loss of the forests in which residents forage for herbs&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/karen-community-fighting-corn-and-coal-for-clean-air-in-northern-thailand/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308913</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>With red tape, canceled rebates, Indonesia risks missing Chinese renewables investment</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/with-red-tape-canceled-rebates-indonesia-risks-missing-chinese-renewables-investment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/with-red-tape-canceled-rebates-indonesia-risks-missing-chinese-renewables-investment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Oct 2025 07:56:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeff Hutton]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/03111034/solar-installation-indonesia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307037</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Clean Energy, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Just Transition, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Solar Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In late June, China’s LONGi Green Energy Technology announced a tie-up with Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina to make solar panels in West Java province. That news came just a week after its rival, Trina Solar, opened a smaller factory in Central Java province. During the first six months of this year, Indonesians [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In late June, China’s LONGi Green Energy Technology announced a tie-up with Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina to make solar panels in West Java province. That news came just a week after its rival, Trina Solar, opened a smaller factory in Central Java province. During the first six months of this year, Indonesians bought nearly as many electric vehicles as they did in all of 2024 — almost all from Chinese brands. As competition among clean energy firms intensifies in China, its biggest EV and renewables companies are making inroads into Indonesia, positioning themselves for the day Southeast Asia weans itself off fossil fuels. One example: Trina’s 1.5 trillion rupiah ($90 million) solar panel factory at Kendal Industrial Park in Central Java. PT Trina Mas Agra Indonesia (TMAI), the company’s joint venture with a local partner, employs 640 workers producing 1 gigawatt (GW) of next-generation solar panels that last longer and perform better in cloudy conditions. TMAI chief financial officer Martha Octavia told Mongabay the factory could triple production if needed. “The important point is that we are fully prepared, both in terms of technology and infrastructure, to scale when the timing is right,” Octavia said in emailed remarks. For now, the company is positioning itself to supply panels for some of the nearly 15 GW of utility-scale solar projects in Indonesia’s pipeline, according to data published in February by Global Energy Monitor. At present, Indonesia has just over 560 megawatts (MW) of solar power feeding the grid&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/with-red-tape-canceled-rebates-indonesia-risks-missing-chinese-renewables-investment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307037</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Anguish for residents as Thailand’s most polluting coal plant gets new lease of life</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/anguish-for-residents-as-thailands-most-polluting-coal-plant-gets-new-lease-of-life/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/anguish-for-residents-as-thailands-most-polluting-coal-plant-gets-new-lease-of-life/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Oct 2025 04:15:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/01033212/Gerry_Header02_Compressed-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306860</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Aerosol Pollution, Air Pollution, Coal, Community-based Conservation, Ecology, Ecosystems, Energy, Energy Transition, Fossil Fuels, Freshwater, Governance, Health, Mining, Planetary Boundaries, Politics, Pollution, Public Health, Sustainability, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MAE MOH, Thailand — Thailand has announced it will delay the decommissioning of several coal-fired units at the 2,400-megawatt Mae Moh power plant in Lampang province, prompting fears among communities who have dealt with health problems linked to the plant for decades. The Aug. 21 announcement, made by the National Energy Policy Committee, also undermines pledges [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MAE MOH, Thailand — Thailand has announced it will delay the decommissioning of several coal-fired units at the 2,400-megawatt Mae Moh power plant in Lampang province, prompting fears among communities who have dealt with health problems linked to the plant for decades. The Aug. 21 announcement, made by the National Energy Policy Committee, also undermines pledges by the government to address the swirling air pollution crisis in the country. Units 8 and 11 of the Mae Moh power plant, in Mae Moh district, were due to be retired at the end of 2025. But now both will remain functioning until 2031, while units 12 and 13 will be refurbished and operate until 2048 — just two years before the entire plant is due to shut down. The decision to extend the lifespan of units in Mae Moh is part of Thailand’s bid to reduce reliance on fuel imports and keep energy costs down. But as the nation struggles to rein in air pollution that is estimated to kill between 25,432 and 32,200 people annually — a figure that hits 8.1 million globally — the decision also marks a continued dependence on burning coal. Although coal only made up 16.7% of Thailand’s energy mix in 2024, fossil fuels as a whole made up 85%, while wind and solar contributed just 5% of the estimated 199.5 terawatt-hours generated in 2024. Mae Moh district&#8217;s lignite mine is the largest and oldest coal mine in Thailand, providing fuel and jobs, but these have come at&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/anguish-for-residents-as-thailands-most-polluting-coal-plant-gets-new-lease-of-life/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306860</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Philippine tribes revive reforestation to defy coal mining expansion</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/philippine-tribes-revive-reforestation-to-defy-coal-mining-expansion/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/philippine-tribes-revive-reforestation-to-defy-coal-mining-expansion/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Sep 2025 23:02:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Bong S. Sarmiento]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/30094140/coal-balik-lasang-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306802</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Coal, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Mining, and Politics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SOUTH COTABATO, Philippines — It’s been three years since production began at a coal mine in the mountain village of Ned, some 1,500 kilometers, nearly 1,000 miles, south of Manila, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Since then, more than 2 million metric tons of deposits have been carved out of the earth, leaving [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SOUTH COTABATO, Philippines — It’s been three years since production began at a coal mine in the mountain village of Ned, some 1,500 kilometers, nearly 1,000 miles, south of Manila, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Since then, more than 2 million metric tons of deposits have been carved out of the earth, leaving a wide brown scar through land once teeming with green vegetation. Since operation plans were announced, the mine has faced opposition from local Indigenous residents, farmers, and church and community organizations in the area, citing environmental and health concerns. A community consultation organized by the regional office of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), a government agency, in Lake Sebu this September revealed that resistance to the project has only hardened. Since December 2022, at least three mountainous slopes have reportedly been lost to strip mining. Coal from the mine is loaded onto heavy trucks that damage public roads, cause noise pollution, and leave coal dust pollution behind them. Community members have complained to authorities and the mine operator about the inconveniences and safety and health risks brought by coal mining, while Indigenous residents say they worry about encroachment on their ancestral lands. Activists have also raised concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding the project, noting that recent revelations make it impossible to know who even owns the companies responsible for the mining. Heavy machinery is used to pile up coal extracts beside the road in the village of Ned in Lake Sebu township,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/philippine-tribes-revive-reforestation-to-defy-coal-mining-expansion/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306802</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ocean acidification threatens planetary health: Interview with Johan Rockström</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/ocean-acidification-threatens-planetary-health-interview-with-johan-rockstrom/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/ocean-acidification-threatens-planetary-health-interview-with-johan-rockstrom/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Sep 2025 16:24:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Julian Reingold]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/24145834/IMAGE-0-BANNER-IMAGE_Oliver-OHanlon_1a_02881-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306516</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Carbon Emissions, Chemicals, Climate Change, Climate Science, Coal, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Food, Global Environmental Crisis, Industrial Agriculture, Interviews, Interviews with conservation players, Natural Gas, Oil, Planetary Boundaries, Plastic, Pollution, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Initiated in 2024, the Planetary Health Check is a comprehensive, science-based global initiative dedicated to measuring and maintaining Earth systems critical to life as we know it. These annual reports were created to provide a regular, comprehensive assessment of the state of our world, utilizing the most current planetary boundaries science — monitoring changes, gauging [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Initiated in 2024, the Planetary Health Check is a comprehensive, science-based global initiative dedicated to measuring and maintaining Earth systems critical to life as we know it. These annual reports were created to provide a regular, comprehensive assessment of the state of our world, utilizing the most current planetary boundaries science — monitoring changes, gauging risks, identifying urgent actions needed, developing solutions and determining progress in maintaining a “safe operating space for humanity.” The just-published 2025 assessment finds that seven out of the nine critical planetary boundaries (PBs) have been breached: climate change, change in biosphere integrity, land system change, freshwater change, modification of biogeochemical flows, the introduction of novel entities, and now, ocean acidification. All of these Earth system boundary transgressions show escalating trends, threatening further deterioration and destabilization of planetary health in the near future. Just two PBs remain within the safe operating space: increase in atmospheric aerosol loading (with an improving global trend) and stratospheric ozone depletion (currently stable). Earth System scientist Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany, spoke to Mongabay on the occasion of the launch of the Planetary Health Check 2025 report, which announces the transgression of the ocean acidification boundary — the seventh Earth system boundary threshold crossed, putting the safe operating space for humanity at grave risk. PIK’s director is co-author of the 2025 report and author of the book and video documentary Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet (2021), which explains the planetary&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/ocean-acidification-threatens-planetary-health-interview-with-johan-rockstrom/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306516</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia prioritizes gas over renewables to meet power demand surge</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-prioritizes-gas-over-renewables-to-meet-power-demand-surge/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-prioritizes-gas-over-renewables-to-meet-power-demand-surge/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2025 17:38:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeff Hutton]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/09170445/chimneys-of-Suralaya-coal-power-plant-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305649</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Clean Energy, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Just Transition, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Solar Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In May, Indonesia’s state-owned electricity monopoly, PLN, vowed to increase its complement of natural gas power plants as part of a gambit, it said, to make its power supply cleaner and more reliable. The plan was part of a 10-year supply blueprint that also expanded use of all other sources of energy that it had [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In May, Indonesia’s state-owned electricity monopoly, PLN, vowed to increase its complement of natural gas power plants as part of a gambit, it said, to make its power supply cleaner and more reliable. The plan was part of a 10-year supply blueprint that also expanded use of all other sources of energy that it had previously used, as well as some new ones, including nuclear energy, to meet rising demand while transitioning away from dirtier coal plants and scaling up renewables. But gas was by far the energy source that would see the biggest gain initially: 9.3 gigawatts. If all the new gas generators ran at full capacity — albeit a rarity — that sort of juice would theoretically be enough to power half of Indonesia’s more than 70 million households. Cleaner-burning than coal and quicker to power up when needed, gas will lead PLN’s effort, at least in the short term, to address a rapid deterioration in the utility’s ability to meet spikes in demand from parts of its network, according to the 10-year plan, known as the RUPTL. But natural gas is still a fossil fuel, and by emphasizing it over renewables, PLN risks locking itself into an expensive source of energy at a time when most of the country’s gas-powered generating capacity is going unused. PLN may need to count on subsidies to keep electricity affordable. Coal would also see a large gain during the first year of the 10-year plan — 3.2 gigawatts — before tailing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-prioritizes-gas-over-renewables-to-meet-power-demand-surge/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/indonesia-prioritizes-gas-over-renewables-to-meet-power-demand-surge/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305649</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Censured Sumatra coal plant blamed for sickening children in Indonesia’s Bengkulu</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/censured-sumatra-coal-plant-blamed-for-sickening-children-in-indonesias-bengkulu/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/censured-sumatra-coal-plant-blamed-for-sickening-children-in-indonesias-bengkulu/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Sep 2025 15:20:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Elviza Diana]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/28095035/1-Dust-on-the-floors-of-residents-houses-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305041</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bengkulu, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Coal, Diseases, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Health, Human Rights, Industry, Just Transition, Marine Protected Areas, Politics, Pollution, Public Health, Renewable Energy, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BENGKULU, Indonesia — Yesi held her daughter Helda tightly, but the little one still shivered for days in the tropical heat over Teluk Sepang, a bay on Sumatra’s west coast. “Her cough hasn’t stopped for 10 days now,” Yesi told Mongabay Indonesia. “I feel so sorry for her.” Many parents like Yesi say it’s a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BENGKULU, Indonesia — Yesi held her daughter Helda tightly, but the little one still shivered for days in the tropical heat over Teluk Sepang, a bay on Sumatra’s west coast. “Her cough hasn’t stopped for 10 days now,” Yesi told Mongabay Indonesia. “I feel so sorry for her.” Many parents like Yesi say it’s a sanctioned coal power plant, majority-owned by a Chinese state enterprise, that’s to blame for sickening the children in Teluk Sepang, here on the southern fringe of the city of Bengkulu. “Almost every child has had this acute respiratory infection,” said Mimi Elzakiah, a health worker who has served the Teluk Sepang community for the last seven years. “Sometimes they get better, but then they relapse.” Data from the public health clinic in Teluk Sepang showed 53 children, including seven babies, received treatment for acute respiratory infection diagnoses during October last year. In December, the number of children diagnosed was 72. That reflects a large share of young people in Teluk Sepang, a coastal enclave of just 3,549 people, where almost half of the population are children under 15. The power plant faces the Indian Ocean on a thin hook of land sheltering a natural anchorage south of Bengkulu, which is today shared by a clutch of small fishing boats with chipped paint, and the bulkier traffic moored in a state-owned port. Between 2020 and 2023 coal operator PT Tenaga Listrik Bengkulu (TLB) received three separate sanctions for noncompliance by Indonesia’s environment ministry. In 2022, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/censured-sumatra-coal-plant-blamed-for-sickening-children-in-indonesias-bengkulu/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305041</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Borneo killing linked to coal industry stays unsolved as Indonesia VP visits Dayak village</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/borneo-killing-linked-to-coal-industry-stays-unsolved-as-indonesia-vp-visits-dayak-village/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/borneo-killing-linked-to-coal-industry-stays-unsolved-as-indonesia-vp-visits-dayak-village/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Aug 2025 02:22:22 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Muhibar Sobary Ardan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/12110946/2dfdddc1-3bd4-4e37-bd5c-61c8a2a444c6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304049</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Coal, Conflict, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industry, Land Rights, Law, Law Enforcement, Mining, Murdered Activists, Politics, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Violence]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MUARA KATE, Indonesia — More than eight months after the bloody killing of an Indigenous elder in eastern Borneo, police in Indonesia have yet to name a suspect, while community leaders in the country’s coal heartland continue to demand justice. “Our concern is that the problem hasn’t been resolved,” Yusuf, a community leader, told Mongabay [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MUARA KATE, Indonesia — More than eight months after the bloody killing of an Indigenous elder in eastern Borneo, police in Indonesia have yet to name a suspect, while community leaders in the country’s coal heartland continue to demand justice. “Our concern is that the problem hasn’t been resolved,” Yusuf, a community leader, told Mongabay in the hamlet of Muara Kate, in East Kalimantan province, following a visit by Indonesia’s vice president in June. Dayak elder Khahirnawati and Yusuf, her husband, explained the troubling chronology to Gibran Rakabuming Raka as Indonesia’s vice president sat cross-legged on the veranda of their home during the visit on June 14. Tensions in the community are running high because of the heavy coal trucks passing through from a nearby mine. In October last year, a coal truck failed to power its way up Mount Merangit, a short walk from the home of Khahirnawati and Yusuf. The truck stalled, rolled backward, and crushed a young motorcyclist behind it. The victim, named Veronika, was a trainee pastor with the Protestant Church of Western Indonesia (GPIB in Indonesian). She died at the scene. She had ordained in the church less than a year earlier. Yusuf recalled that none of the dozens of other coal trucks in the convoy had stopped at the scene. Instead, they drove past Veronika’s body, inflaming tensions further with the population in Muara Kate. Prosecutors in Paser district have filed criminal charges against the coal hauler. However, the local community took matters further&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/borneo-killing-linked-to-coal-industry-stays-unsolved-as-indonesia-vp-visits-dayak-village/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/borneo-killing-linked-to-coal-industry-stays-unsolved-as-indonesia-vp-visits-dayak-village/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304049</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Batang coal plant’s seawater permit imperils marine life, fishing communities</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/batang-coal-plants-seawater-permit-imperils-marine-life-fishing-communities/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/batang-coal-plants-seawater-permit-imperils-marine-life-fishing-communities/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jul 2025 03:39:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Basten Gokkon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/25085441/ba9-IMG_8776.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303177</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian coal and Indonesian Fisheries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Java, Indonesia, Java, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Coastal Ecosystems, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Ecosystems, Energy, Environment, Fish, Fisheries, Fishing, Fossil Fuels, Global Environmental Crisis, Infrastructure, Land Grabbing, Marine, Ocean Warming, Politics, Sea Levels, and Social Conflict]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia’s marine ministry has approved one of Java’s largest coal plants to use vast amounts of seawater for cooling, prompting concerns from marine experts over the impact of heated discharge on coastal ecosystems and fisheries. The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries on July 22 issued a permit for the utilization of seawater for non-energy [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia’s marine ministry has approved one of Java’s largest coal plants to use vast amounts of seawater for cooling, prompting concerns from marine experts over the impact of heated discharge on coastal ecosystems and fisheries. The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries on July 22 issued a permit for the utilization of seawater for non-energy purposes (ALSE) to PT Bhimasena Power Indonesia (BPI), the operator of the Batang coal-fired power plant in Central Java. The permit makes the Batang facility the first power plant in Java and the second in Indonesia to be legally authorized to manage seawater for industrial activities, the ministry said in a statement. The ministry said the Batang plant utilized approximately 3 billion cubic meters (106 billion cubic feet) of seawater annually, primarily for cooling purposes, and such large-scale seawater use requires accountable management in accordance with government regulations. The ALSE permit regulates the use of seawater for non-energy industrial purposes, such as cooling, potable water production or other uses, according to the ministry. “This effort also supports transparency and accountability in sustainable marine industries,” Frista Yorhanita, the ministry’s director of marine resources, said in the statement. Unfavorable coastal conditions in Batang, Central Java, have made it increasingly difficult for fishers to operate. Image by Wulan Yanuarwati/Mongabay Indonesia. The Batang thermal coal plant began full operations in 2022 with a 2,000-megawatt capacity. As one of Java’s main power sources, it was built to boost Indonesia’s energy supply and support local economic growth. However, instead of improving&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/batang-coal-plants-seawater-permit-imperils-marine-life-fishing-communities/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/batang-coal-plants-seawater-permit-imperils-marine-life-fishing-communities/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303177</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian civil society urges probe after payout for mine recovery that never happened</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-civil-society-urges-probe-after-payout-for-mine-recovery-that-never-happened/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-civil-society-urges-probe-after-payout-for-mine-recovery-that-never-happened/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2025 07:44:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Muhibar Sobary Ardan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/07/10071442/Rukka-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=302173</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Just Transition, Politics, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SAMARINDA, Indonesia — The prosecution of a former head of mining in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province could reveal wider misuse of environmental restoration funds across the country’s coal heartland, a prominent environmental lawyer said in June. “I see that there’s the potential for there to be others, so I recommend that law enforcement officers audit [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SAMARINDA, Indonesia — The prosecution of a former head of mining in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province could reveal wider misuse of environmental restoration funds across the country’s coal heartland, a prominent environmental lawyer said in June. “I see that there’s the potential for there to be others, so I recommend that law enforcement officers audit all these mining pits,” said Muhammad Muhdar, an environmental lawyer at Mulawarman University in Samarinda, the provincial capital. Last month, the East Kalimantan prosecutor’s office announced it would charge Amrullah, the head of the provincial mining agency, in connection with an alleged decade-old conspiracy pertaining to coal miner CV Arjuna. Located in the east of Borneo Island, East Kalimantan accounts for more coal production than any other province in Indonesia, the world’s largest exporter of thermal coal. Coal production across Indonesia increased to 831 million metric tons in 2024, an all-time high. Amrullah had served as head of the energy and minerals department in East Kalimantan from 2010-2018. Arjuna operated a 1,452-hectare (3,588-acre) coal mine in Makroman village, within the Samarinda city limits, on the east coast of Borneo. The company was required by law to conduct environmental reclamation work to seal the mine on reaching the end of its operating permit. “To my knowledge, this is probably the first case where someone has been charged in relation to corruption of reclamation funds in East Kalimantan,” Muhdar said. “So it would be good for us to jointly monitor the process in order to assist our&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/07/indonesian-civil-society-urges-probe-after-payout-for-mine-recovery-that-never-happened/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-302173</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bitcoin boom comes with huge intensifying environmental footprint</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/bitcoin-boom-comes-with-huge-intensifying-environmental-footprint/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/bitcoin-boom-comes-with-huge-intensifying-environmental-footprint/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jun 2025 16:36:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerry McGovernSue Branford]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/24142940/miami-bull-bitcoin-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=301253</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[carbon, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Footprint, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, Coal, Conservation, Consumption, data, E-waste, Energy, Environment, Finance, Fossil Fuels, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Politics, Social Justice, Technology, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[While much has been written about bitcoin, many people still find it a hard topic to comprehend, even as promoters like U.S. President Donald Trump rave about it being a revolutionary digital currency that will rapidly replace hard currency. However, unlike money, there’s currently no bank or government to back up, insure and regulate bitcoin, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[While much has been written about bitcoin, many people still find it a hard topic to comprehend, even as promoters like U.S. President Donald Trump rave about it being a revolutionary digital currency that will rapidly replace hard currency. However, unlike money, there’s currently no bank or government to back up, insure and regulate bitcoin, or protect small holders. It’s an unregulated tool for speculators, not savers, according to critics. Bitcoin today dominates the world of cryptocurrencies: digital “money” based on cryptography, a form of complex mathematics using secret codes that require decryption to achieve worth. Ultimately, bitcoin’s value comes down to something akin to fantasy or faith, it merely being a series of ones and zeros anonymously laced across the internet and “mined” by those few with the financial clout and tech capacity to do so. As such, bitcoin flourishes in a speculative crypto marketplace, posing high risk of boom or bust. But, unlike Holland&#8217;s wildly speculative 17th century tulipmania market bubble, (which upon collapse at least left investors with a garden full of pretty flowers), a bitcoin bust leaves the holder with naught but ones and zeros. Bitcoin does, however, possess an enduring real-world footprint: The greater the perceived value bitcoin achieves, the more environmentally destructive its mining becomes, as it demands ever escalating amounts of energy (with accompanying carbon emissions) to crack the increasingly complex crypto code. Donald Trump originally spoke out against cryptocurrencies, but during his 2024 presidential campaign he wholeheartedly embraced bitcoin, and he continues&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/bitcoin-boom-comes-with-huge-intensifying-environmental-footprint/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/bitcoin-boom-comes-with-huge-intensifying-environmental-footprint/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-301253</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesian utility PLN ‘kneecaps renewables’ with embrace of fossil fuels</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesian-utility-pln-kneecaps-renewables-with-embrace-of-fossil-fuels/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesian-utility-pln-kneecaps-renewables-with-embrace-of-fossil-fuels/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jun 2025 03:57:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeff Hutton]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/17015622/indonesia-coal-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300836</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Clean Energy, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Just Transition, Politics, Renewable Energy, and Solar Power]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia’s state-owned power utility has backed away from promises to rapidly expand its use of renewable energy, opting to focus instead on building more power stations that burn fossil fuels. The country’s electricity monopoly, PLN, will expand by more than one-fifth how much electricity it generates from gas and coal by the middle of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indonesia’s state-owned power utility has backed away from promises to rapidly expand its use of renewable energy, opting to focus instead on building more power stations that burn fossil fuels. The country’s electricity monopoly, PLN, will expand by more than one-fifth how much electricity it generates from gas and coal by the middle of the next decade, according to the company’s Ten-Year Supply Development Plan (RUPTL). While PLN also intends to triple how much electricity it gets from renewable sources, most of the expansion in green energy will need to wait until the early 2030s as the utility struggles to first meet soaring demand for electricity. Indonesia’s grid is, for now, unable to accommodate on-again-off-again renewable energy, the company has said. The question for PLN is “how can renewables, which are indeed variable, and fossil fuel-based power plants be sewn together?” Darmawan Prasodjo, PLN’s president director, told a parliamentary commission last month ahead of the release of the supply blueprint. PLN unveiled a slide presentation of its RUPTL late last month, foreshadowing a massive buildout of solar and other renewable energy over the next 10 years. The biggest initial focus, though, will be new gas- and coal-fired power plants between now and 2029. Renewables will comprise a slightly smaller share of the planned expansion until the end of this decade. But on June 3, the utility published the full version of its 1,200-plus-page electricity supply blueprint which underscored doubts for some analysts that PLN would countenance the country’s shift to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesian-utility-pln-kneecaps-renewables-with-embrace-of-fossil-fuels/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300836</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia new capital yet to spark electricity for low-income neighbors on Borneo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesia-new-capital-yet-to-spark-electricity-for-low-income-neighbors-on-borneo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesia-new-capital-yet-to-spark-electricity-for-low-income-neighbors-on-borneo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jun 2025 02:41:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Niken D. Sitoningrum]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/06/04085838/Marwati-menunjukan-instalasi-listrik-sederhana-dari-yang-tersambung-dengan-panel-surya--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=300168</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, Kalimantan, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cities, Coal, Development, Energy, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Law, Mining, Natural Resources, Politics, Resource Conflict, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[RANGAN, Indonesia — Every night for three decades, Marwati would worry about snakes crawling out of the walls of her house near the east coast of Borneo. Today, a small rooftop solar panel powers a 3-watt bulb, illuminating the interior of her timber home in a reassuring glow. However, Marwati begins to worry again when [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[RANGAN, Indonesia — Every night for three decades, Marwati would worry about snakes crawling out of the walls of her house near the east coast of Borneo. Today, a small rooftop solar panel powers a 3-watt bulb, illuminating the interior of her timber home in a reassuring glow. However, Marwati begins to worry again when the sky darkens in November as the rainy season grows in intensity. “If there is no sun, it’ll be too dim,” she says, pointing to a small array of small flashlights at her home in Paser district, in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province. “So for the night, we add flashlights.” Sometimes Marwati prioritizes buying batteries for the constellation of flashlights in her home ahead of groceries. Marwati is not alone. Data from the provincial energy department of East Kalimantan showed that 10% of households in Paser district did not have a formal electricity connection in 2022. Many households here query why the prosperity promised by the construction of Indonesia’s new capital city, Nusantara, which is being built 140 kilometers (87 miles) up the road, has yet to trickle down to basic services like electricity. Moreover, Paser is among the highest-ranking districts for coal output in a country that produced 831 million metric tons of thermal coal in 2024, an all-time high. Last month, the Indonesian ministry for villages and remote communities told parliament that 3,264 villages across the archipelagic country had yet to receive electricity access. “If there’s no electricity,” Taufik Madjid, the ministry’s secretary-general, asked a parliamentary&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesia-new-capital-yet-to-spark-electricity-for-low-income-neighbors-on-borneo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/indonesia-new-capital-yet-to-spark-electricity-for-low-income-neighbors-on-borneo/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-300168</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Indonesia phases out coal, what happens to people &#038; environments left behind?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/as-indonesia-phases-out-coal-what-happens-to-people-environments-left-behind/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/as-indonesia-phases-out-coal-what-happens-to-people-environments-left-behind/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 May 2025 15:54:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/19095441/GP0STTB7D_Medium-res-with-credit-line-1200px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299299</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Java, Southeast Asia, and West Java]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Air Pollution, Climate Change, Coal, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Human Rights, Just Transition, Politics, Pollution, Rehabilitation, Renewable Energy, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[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 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[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&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/as-indonesia-phases-out-coal-what-happens-to-people-environments-left-behind/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/as-indonesia-phases-out-coal-what-happens-to-people-environments-left-behind/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299299</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Flawed energy road map may block Indonesia’s coal exit, critics warn</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/flawed-energy-road-map-may-block-indonesias-coal-exit-critics-warn/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/flawed-energy-road-map-may-block-indonesias-coal-exit-critics-warn/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 May 2025 10:28:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/23070323/GP0STTAMQ_Low-res-800px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=299052</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Alternative Energy, Bioenergy, Carbon Emissions, Climate, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Just Transition, Politics, and Renewable Energy]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s first road map for its energy transition, focusing on phasing out coal, is riddled with loopholes that will make it difficult for the country to retire its massive fleet of coal-fired power plants, critics say. The road map uses a weighted scoring system to determine which power plants should be prioritized for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Indonesia’s first road map for its energy transition, focusing on phasing out coal, is riddled with loopholes that will make it difficult for the country to retire its massive fleet of coal-fired power plants, critics say. The road map uses a weighted scoring system to determine which power plants should be prioritized for closure or early retirement. But the system gives too much weight to criteria like how much funding has been secured to shutter a plant (27% of the total score) and not enough to factors like emissions (just 9.3% of the score), even though cutting emissions is the primary goal. This approach means that only the lowest-risk plants — those with available donor funding and minimal grid impact — are likely to be retired first, regardless of their carbon emissions, said Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara, director of the Centre for Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS), a Jakarta-based think tank. “This scoring system would fail most [coal plants from being retired early],” Bhima told reporters in Jakarta. “This road map actually blocks early retirement of coal plants.” The system also overlooks the potential cost savings from retiring old, inefficient, and heavily polluting plants, Bhima added. “If closing a coal plant saves money … shouldn’t that reduce the financial burden?” he asked, questioning the government’s reliance on external funding to shut down aging plants. “If we rely on external funds, given today’s global finance conditions, it’ll be tough,” he said. Even if the funds are available, other criteria, like&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/flawed-energy-road-map-may-block-indonesias-coal-exit-critics-warn/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/flawed-energy-road-map-may-block-indonesias-coal-exit-critics-warn/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-299052</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Science lays out framework to assess climate liability of fossil fuel majors</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/science-lays-out-framework-to-assess-climate-liability-of-fossil-fuel-majors/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/science-lays-out-framework-to-assess-climate-liability-of-fossil-fuel-majors/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 May 2025 06:12:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/05/09034706/johannes-plenio-jfXMQ6MZlR4-unsplash-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298750</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Air Pollution, Business, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Offsets, Climate Change, Coal, Emission Reduction, Environment, Environmental Law, Fossil Fuels, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Heatwave, Law, Natural Gas, Oil, Oil Drilling, Politics, Pollution, Social Justice, and Temperatures]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As billion-dollar climate disasters pile up, and world leaders fail to act against global warming, lawsuits on behalf of impacted states, cities and other government entities have increased in number with the intent of holding the fossil fuel industry accountable for its contribution to climate change-caused economic damages. But directly linking specific companies and their [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As billion-dollar climate disasters pile up, and world leaders fail to act against global warming, lawsuits on behalf of impacted states, cities and other government entities have increased in number with the intent of holding the fossil fuel industry accountable for its contribution to climate change-caused economic damages. But directly linking specific companies and their emissions to the financial harm done by actual climate change-intensified extreme weather events has remained a stumbling block. Now, a new study published in Nature offers a framework to potentially strengthen such legal arguments by enabling plaintiffs to calculate contributions made by individual companies to rising temperatures, tying their emissions directly to extreme-heat disasters. “Advances in climate economics over the last 10 years have told us quite a bit about the way that local climate hazards translate into damage for people [and places],” said study co-author Christopher Callahan, a postdoctoral scholar in earth system science at Stanford University. “But putting these pieces together in a single causal chain is the novel contribution here,” helping to create linkages that can strengthen pending and future cases. Policymakers and litigators may know these climate data exist, Callahan told Mongabay, but they may not know how they can bring all this evidence together in a way that more clearly illustrates causation and thus legal liability by major greenhouse gas polluters. “Causal linkages from emitters to impact have been termed the Holy Grail of climate litigation,” the study states. Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/science-lays-out-framework-to-assess-climate-liability-of-fossil-fuel-majors/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298750</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indonesia’s deforestation claims under scrutiny over ‘cherry-picked’ data</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/indonesias-deforestation-claims-under-scrutiny-over-cherry-picked-data/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/indonesias-deforestation-claims-under-scrutiny-over-cherry-picked-data/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 May 2025 03:38:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/07153306/Deforestation-Indonesia-Rhett-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=298670</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Coal, Critical Minerals, Deforestation, Electric Cars, forest degradation, Forest Loss, Forests, Logging, Mining, Monitoring, Palm Oil, Plantations, Protected Areas, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Redd, Research, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Researchers have called out the Indonesian government’s claim of having reduced deforestation by 90% over the past decade, pointing to cherry-picked data and a skewed baseline that paint an incomplete picture of the reality on the ground. In a recently published report, Norwegian and Indonesian researchers at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Researchers have called out the Indonesian government’s claim of having reduced deforestation by 90% over the past decade, pointing to cherry-picked data and a skewed baseline that paint an incomplete picture of the reality on the ground. In a recently published report, Norwegian and Indonesian researchers at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) compared the official data with other satellite-based deforestation data sets from independent sources, such as Global Forest Watch (GFW). They found that while all the independent data sets also showed a decline, these were lower than the 90% figure that the Indonesian government gives for the period 2015-2021. GFW data, for instance, showed a decline of 69% from the period 2016-2023. Ahmad Dermawan, a postdoctoral researcher at NMBU and co-author of the report, said a major issue was the Indonesian government’s choice of 2015 as the baseline year, i.e., the year against which deforestation rates for subsequent years would be compared. 2015 marked an extreme case of El Niño, which in Indonesia results in hotter and drier conditions than usual. This, combined with burning by plantation companies to clear land, led to some of the worst forest and land fires on record across Indonesia. An estimated 2.6 million hectares (6.4 million acres) — an area four times the size of the island of Bali — burned that year, of which more than 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) were forest loss. That constituted one of the highest deforestation rates in the country’s history, according to official&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/05/indonesias-deforestation-claims-under-scrutiny-over-cherry-picked-data/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-298670</doi>				</item>
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