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China Briefing handpicks and explains the most important climate and energy stories from China over the past fortnight. Subscribe for free here.
Key developments
Tariffs and trade restrictions
US BAN: China has placed an export ban on shipments to the US of gallium, germanium and antimony, plus further restricted exports of certain types of graphite to the country, in a “rapid retaliation by Beijing against new export controls from Washington”, the Financial Times said. It added that “the immediate impact of the measures was unclear, given that the US had been diversifying its supply chains”. Analysis by Carbon Brief found that previous country-agnostic export controls on the minerals, all of which are used in low-carbon technologies, had a limited impact on supply chains, with Chinese exports either resuming after a short dip or remaining stable. Analysis by consultancy Trivium China stated that one of China’s motives with the ban could be to “warn the incoming Trump administration” against “ramping up economic and trade pressure”.
SOLAR TARIFFS: Meanwhile, the US has also imposed a “new round of tariffs on solar panel imports” from Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand, following accusations by a US industry lobby of Chinese-owned factories in the four nations “dumping products into the [global] market”, Reuters reported. In response, China’s commerce ministry expressed its “concern over the US’ intention to politicise and weaponise trade investigations”, the state-run newspaper China Daily said. It cited a commerce ministry spokesperson saying that Chinese solar companies in southeast Asia have made “positive contributions to the local economic and social development”. Another Reuters article noted that Malaysia has “urged” Chinese companies not to use it “as a base to rebadge products to avoid US tariffs”.
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CHINA ‘HAWK’: On 6 December, president-elect Donald Trump nominated China “hawk” senator David Perdue for US ambassador to China, BBC News reported. Perdue wrote in the Washington Examiner in September 2024: “China continues to laugh at US attempts to partner with it on climate change…We should withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, as it commits the US to fund it primarily while giving China a free pass.”
CONTENT REQUIREMENTS: Meanwhile, according to Nikkei Asia, the EU is “adding restrictions to its [European Hydrogen Bank] subsidy program for ‘green’ hydrogen production that effectively lock out Chinese-made equipment” by stating that projects “will not be eligible if electrolyser stacks…sourced from China account for more than 25% of output capacity”. The Financial Times reported that the EU’s new €4.6bn tender for “technologies for decarbonisation” will only be accessible to Chinese companies that “agree to transfer intellectual property rights to the EU”, according to Teresa Ribera, the EU’s new executive vice president for a “clean, just and competitive transition”.
Carbon concentrations reporting
CLIMBING CO2: The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere above China’s land area rose in 2023, reaching approximately 421 parts per million (ppm), according to the country’s newly released greenhouse gas bulletin for 2023, reported the Communist party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily. This rise of 2.3ppm was “slightly lower” than the average annual growth in concentrations of 2.4ppm over the past decade, the newspaper added. The 21st Century Herald, a business newspaper, also covered the bulletin’s launch, noting that the average concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide in 2023 rose year-on-year at a rate “lower than the global [average]”.
EXPERT WARNING: Separately, a new report found that, “while the civil sector has achieved significant synergistic emission reductions of CO2 and air pollutants”, the power and heating sectors are seeing “dual-growth” of carbon emissions and air pollution, while the emissions reductions of industry and transport “need to be further unleashed”, finance newspaper the Economic Daily reported. The study, released by the China Clean Air Policy Partnership – a consortium of leading universities, government-linked research institutes, industry associations and other stakeholders – assesses the “challenges China faces on the road to carbon neutrality and clean air synergy and proposes solutions”, current affairs news outlet China News said. It quoted professor He Kebin, dean of the Tsinghua University Institute for Carbon Neutrality, saying at the launch event that the upcoming shift from “dual-control of energy” to “dual-control of carbon” marks a “critical period” in China’s “green transformation”.
WEATHER IMPACT: Meanwhile, China “reported its warmest autumn this year since records began”, with average temperatures standing at “1.5C higher than the average year”, Agence-France Presse said. Scientists in China are searching for ways to develop climate-resilient potatoes – given the plants are “particularly vulnerable to heat” – in order to “protect [the country’s] food supplies”, Reuters reported. Also, “continued rains followed by extreme high temperatures” have severely damaged China’s kiwi harvest, according to Bloomberg.
Grid reform efforts continue
UNIFIED GRID: The China Electricity Council (CEC) launched a “blue book” – the term used for research reports or policy proposals issued by government departments or government-affiliated organisations – outlining a “strategic roadmap for future development” of a national unified power market, industry news outlet International Energy Net reported. It quoted a deputy director of the National Energy Administration (NEA) saying a unified power market is crucial for “deepening power sector reforms” and promoting the energy transition. Energy news outlet BJX News also covered the document’s release, which outlined a timetable for the plan: namely, that “preliminary construction [of a unified market] will be completed in 2025, full construction will be completed in 2029, and improvements and upgrading will be completed in 2035”. It added that key elements of the plan include “convergence” of provincial mechanisms, “participation” of large-scale renewable energy bases and “market adaptation” to the energy transition.
GREEN GRID: Separately, the CEC also reported that China’s electrification rate – the share of energy demand met by electricity – was “expected to reach 34% by 2030”, financial news outlet Yicai reported. Separately, China will “set another record” for solar capacity growth this year, with new installations expected to climb from last year’s 217 gigawatts (GW) to reach 230-260GW in 2024, according to an announcement by the China Photovoltaic Industry Association covered by Bloomberg. In addition, China’s installed wind capacity has exceeded 500 gigawatts (GW) and now accounts for 50% of the global total, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
STABLE GRID: The NEA released guiding opinions that aim to “clarify the scope of new businesses” in the energy sector and “facilitate [their] connection to the grid and operation”, following the rapid expansion of China’s renewable energy sector, an NEA official told International Energy Net. Finance newspaper Securities Times quoted Lin Boqiang, dean of the China Energy Policy Research Institute at Xiamen University, saying the new rules “aim to lessen pressure on the grid and ensure safe and stable operation of the power system”.
‘Green growth’ at the fore of key economic meeting
XI’S ‘KEY TASKS’: President Xi Jinping told policymakers that “synergistically promoting carbon reduction, pollution reduction and green growth” was one of nine “key tasks” for 2025 at the central economic work conference (CEWC), an annual high-level economic policy meeting that ended on 12 December, Xinhua reported. The state news agency added that Xi’s speech underscored the need to “step up the overall green transformation of economic and social development” and “deepen reform of the ecological civilisation system”, in part by creating a “healthy ecosystem” for low-carbon industries and “cultivating new growth points, such as green buildings”. It said the speech also mentioned that China will “establish a number of zero-carbon parks, promote the construction of a national carbon market, and establish a product carbon footprint management system and a carbon labelling certification system”. These themes had been raised in a meeting of the Politburo, the decision-making body of the Chinese communist party, a few days prior, according to China Daily.
GROWING PAINS: The CEWC meeting included “pledges to take a more proactive approach” in stimulating economic growth, “but gave no details on new stimulus measures”, the Associated Press reported, adding that China would “raise its fiscal deficit”, “stabilise the property market” and “boost consumer spending”. The International Energy Agency “lifted next year’s oil-demand estimates” in response to the anticipated “impact of China’s stimulus measures”, although it added “the pace of growth is expected to remain subdued”, the Wall Street Journal said. Reuters reported that “Chinese leaders signalled…they are ready to deploy whatever stimulus is needed to counter the impact of expected US trade tariffs on next year’s economic growth”, adding that the exact size of the stimulus will “depend on” the Trump administration’s tariffs and other policy measures against China.
HIGH-QUALITY GROWTH: China is “planning a fresh set of policies to propel growth in the equipment manufacturing sector, focusing on nurturing new growth engines such as new energy vehicles”, China Daily said, in tandem with calls from the CEWC and Politburo meetings to “nurture technological innovation”. A China Daily editorial argued that “Chinese policymakers are exercising tremendous prudence” to minimise risks and uncertainties while pursuing “new quality productive forces and innovation”.
Spotlight
How China’s renewables rollout boosts its ‘war on sand’
At the ongoing COP16 UN summit on desertification in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Carbon Brief hears from experts on the links between China’s rapidly expanding desert solar farms and Beijing’s decades-long efforts to keep sand in check.
China’s effort to build large solar power “bases” in and around the desert is a major part of its current renewable plan.
The initiative, which has expanded rapidly in the country’s arid north and northwest, is also part of its campaign to combat desertification, an issue increasingly exacerbated by climate change.
For more than four decades, Beijing has been trying to prevent sand from degrading its land with an afforestation programme called the “Three-North Shelterbelt” (三北防护林).
Over the past two years, the programme – described as China’s “war on sand” by the media – has been boosted by the development of large-scale solar bases in far-flung regions, such as Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia.
Installing solar panels in the desert can not only generate power, but also help prevent sand dunes from moving, according to Dr He Jijiang, executive deputy director of the Research Center for Energy Transition and Social Development at Tsinghua University, Beijing.
Energy companies’ investments also provide financial support to many regions’ sand-control campaigns – an apparent obstacle in the past – Dr He told Carbon Brief at a side event in the China pavilion at the ongoing COP16 talks.
Taming of the sand
China is one of the worst-hit countries by desertification, which essentially means land degradation in dry lands.
Nearly 18% of China’s landmass – roughly seven times the size of the UK – is affected by the issue, according to statistics reported by Guan Zhi’ou, director of China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration and the head of the Chinese delegation to COP16, in November.
China’s effort to combat desertification has a strong link with its – and the world’s – climate actions.
Soil is the second largest natural carbon sink on Earth after oceans and stores a large amount of carbon. When land degrades, not only does it lose the ability to store as much carbon, it can also release carbon into the atmosphere, driving further climate change.
On the other hand, climate change accelerates land degradation and China is on the front line. The country has seen the largest total area shift from non-dryland into drylands over the past three decades, according to a major scientific report published by the UNCCD at COP16.
Since the introduction of the Three-North Shelterbelt programme in 1978, China has adopted a series of measures to fight desertification, from planting sand-blocking vegetation to laying straw on the ground in the shape of checkerboards to prevent its vast deserts from expanding.
Solar solution
China’s plan for renewable energy from 2021 to 2025 calls for the “large-scale development” of its sand-plus-solar anti-desertification method.
The concept centres around managing arid areas via building and maintaining solar farms. It stems from years of experience accumulated by Chinese solar developers, which have built solar farms in the desert for more than a decade – with varying degrees of success.
“Building solar farms needs a lot of space. China has vast deserts, so [companies] wanted to take advantage of it,” Dr He explained.
But to operate solar farms in such harsh conditions, these companies must first take various protective measures – and these measures helped combat desertification, too.
For example, companies need to put up fences around their solar farms to stop animals from entering, install anti-dust nets to prevent sand from gathering on equipment and make straw checkerboards around their bases to prevent nearby sand dunes from shifting, Dr He said.
Solar panels also bring benefits to the ground underneath. For example, they can reduce water evaporation by blocking out direct sunshine, according to Dr Chen Siyu, a professor at the college of atmospheric sciences at Lanzhou University in Lanzhou, a city situated on the edge of the Gobi desert in China.
Solar panels can “significantly increase” the soil moisture of dry regions and, therefore, help plants to grow, Dr Chen told Carbon Brief. A 2021 study conducted in northwest China projected that the soil moisture would increase by up to 113.6% when it is sheltered.
“Solar panels can also form a natural barrier, helping to shed wind speed and prevent dust storms from occurring and spreading,” she said.
Ramping up transition
The construction of solar farms also injects financial support to many regions’ sand-control campaigns, providing incentives for them to carry on, Dr He noted.
“In the past, planting trees only brought ecological benefits, not economic returns,” he said. “Now, if a company wants to build a solar power station, it needs to cover all related costs, from hiring equipment to growing plants.”
Ramping up the solar-plus-sand method can scale up China’s renewable deployment, as well as improving soil conditions by bringing greenery, vegetable plots and livestock to the desert and barren land. Because of this, dryland has become “a type of resource”, Dr He said.
This Spotlight is by freelance climate journalist Xiaoying You for Carbon Brief. A full-length version of the article is available on the Carbon Brief website.
Watch, read, listen
LOW-BALLING: Chinese climate envoy Liu Zhenmin, in a lengthy interview with China Newsweek, reflected on the “disappoint[ing]” $300bn finance goal and pushed back against questions of China “playing a stronger leadership role” in climate negotiations.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Asia Society Policy Institute wrote that, against the backdrop of an economic slowdown, China’s international climate pledge next year, coal trajectory and renewables buildout are “key things to watch” in a forecast for 2025.
PUTIN’S PIPELINE: State news agency Xinhua visited a hub of the recently completed China-Russia east-route gas pipeline to explore how it supplies Shanghai and other eastern provinces.
TRUMP EFFECT: A podcast by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies discussed how the next Trump administration’s China policy could affect China’s own energy activities and climate action.
17%
The share of China’s greenhouse gas emissions produced by the steel industry, according to Reuters. The newswire added that China has published draft rules for comment on greenhouse gas emissions reporting for steel-makers, in preparation for the industry’s entry into the national emissions trading scheme.
New science
Global and Planetary Change
Compound drought and hot extremes (CDHEs) will increase across many regions of China over the coming century, especially in the eastern and central Songnen Plain and northern Sichuan Basin, a new study found. The authors evaluated changes in CDHEs across multiple croplands in China between 1961-2010 and 2031-80, using a large ensemble model, rainfall data and temperature data. “These results underscore the high risk of the spatial compounding of extremes at multiple croplands in China in the future,” the study said.
Impact of computing infrastructure on carbon emissions in China
Scientific Reports
A new paper found an upside-down “U” shaped relationship between carbon emission intensity – the emissions per unit of economic output – and computing infrastructure in Chinese cities, with emissions intensity initially increasing with a rise in computing infrastructure, before plateauing and then decreasing. The authors used data from 279 prefecture-level cities collected between 2008 to 2021. The findings are “particularly pronounced in central regions, hub cities and moderately digitally developed cities”, they said.
China Briefing is compiled by Wanyuan Song and Anika Patel. It is edited by Wanyuan Song and Dr Simon Evans. Please send tips and feedback to china@carbonbrief.org
The post China Briefing 12 December 2024: Export controls; Carbon concentration figures; ‘War on sand’ appeared first on Carbon Brief.
China Briefing 12 December 2024: Export controls; Carbon concentration figures; ‘War on sand’
SYDNEY, Wednesday 26 August 2026 — New 2026 Sustainability Reports released by supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths this week demonstrate the retailers are failing on their commitments to end deforestation in their supply chains.
Adele Chasson, Nature Policy Lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific said:
“These so-called sustainability reports are revealing. Despite their public commitments in 2024 and 2025, neither Coles nor Woolworths have taken deforestation-linked beef off their shelves. Meanwhile, bulldozers continue to tear up forests and bushland, pushing wildlife closer to extinction and causing mass toxic runoff to flow into the Great Barrier Reef. Millions of native animals like koalas are losing their homes to beef pastures each year, while the big supermarkets put off action.
“Australians would be shocked to know that beef on the shelves of our biggest supermarkets could be pushing threatened species to the brink of extinction. Collectively Coles and Woolworths have made more than $2 billion in profits in the last year, profiting from the destruction of wildlife and precious Australian nature. Coles and Woolworths owe it to shoppers to deliver on their promises and end deforestation in their supply chains now.
“As big beef buyers, Coles and Woolworths have an essential role to play in keeping Australia’s unique forests standing. They can help stop the Great Barrier Reef from being poisoned by runoff and protect iconic forest wildlife by taking deforestation off their shelves. It’s time these big companies put their money where their mouths are and follow through on their promise of sourcing and supplying deforestation-free beef.”
New Zealand’s parliament has adopted a controversial new law blocking a whole avenue of climate litigation and shutting down its most advanced corporate lawsuit, which has been blamed by the government for shaking business confidence and investment.
The Climate Change Response (Tort Liability) Amendment Bill, expected to take effect in the coming days after it is formally signed by the Governor-General, prevents all current and future civil claims for climate loss or harm under tort law.
Justice minister Paul Goldsmith said last week that the aim was to give businesses “certainty around their climate change obligations”, noting it would not alter the government’s responsibilities under the Climate Change Response Act 2002 nor business obligations under the Emissions Trading Scheme.
“Our response to climate change is best managed by the Government at a national level and not through piece-meal litigation in the courts,” he added in a statement.
Such litigation, he said, “risks developing a new regime that contradicts the framework Parliament has already enacted” to tackle climate change.
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Experts say that despite dismissing the lawsuit, the ruling sets a precedent by confirming that climate science can establish legal liability for the damage caused by emissions
Goldsmith singled out a key domestic climate lawsuit brought by Northland iwi leader and activist Mike Smith against six big companies: dairy firms Fonterra and Dairy Holdings, energy firms Genesis Energy and Z Energy, New Zealand Steel and coal mining firm BT Mining. A seventh original defendant, Channel Infrastructure, was dropped after it permanently decommissioned its Marsden Point oil refinery.
Smith argued that these companies had caused him harm under public nuisance and negligence law, as well as a third breach of a duty to cease contributing to climate change that has yet to be tested domestically. He did not seek financial compensation, instead asking for the companies to immediately stop emitting or contributing to net greenhouse gas emissions.
In one of the most advanced corporate climate accountability lawsuits in the world, a trial had been scheduled for April 2027 after the Supreme Court unanimously allowed the case to continue.
Corporate lobbying in the shadows
Smith described the passing of the bill as “deeply concerning”, particularly as it coincided with the Supreme Court hearing another of his climate lawsuits. In that case, Smith v Attorney-General, he argues that the government’s response to climate change and its impacts on Māori communities in particular breaches rights to life and culture.
“That timing raises profound questions about the separation of powers and the rule of law,” said Smith. “Whatever one’s view of the merits of these cases, it is deeply troubling when parliament intervenes to remove a legal pathway while the courts are actively considering fundamental questions about climate responsibility, rights and the crown’s obligations.”
The bill – which says that no person (including the government) can be found liable in tort for emissions-related climate change effects – followed major lobbying efforts by the companies defending themselves in Smith’s lawsuit. They outlined a proposed legal amendment in a briefing note to the government in 2024.
The centre-right government has been fiercely criticised over its lack of transparency in relation to this lobbying activity. The national ombudsman recently found that the Prime Minister’s Office effectively withheld information requested by the Environmental Law Initiative about meetings, discussions and conversations regarding Smith’s case.
Green groups fail to stop bill
The bill sparked huge concern among environmental campaigners in New Zealand and elsewhere. Greenpeace Aotearoa called it a “shocking abuse of executive power” and the vast majority of submissions to a parliamentary inquiry said it should be rejected.
But in the end, it was adopted with little resistance, moving relatively smoothly through parliament, passing its third reading by 67 votes to 53. Sam Bookman, climate law lecturer at Melbourne Law School, told Climate Home News he was not surprised by this, given that the coalition government has a secure majority.
A complaint has been made to the UN special rapporteur on climate change and human rights by Smith, the National Iwi Chairs Forum Pou Tikanga and youth coalition Climate Clinic Aotearoa over what they see as the government’s heavy-handed approach. Smith is also challenging the new law in yet another lawsuit.
“Pathetic”: New Zealand plans to barely cut emissions between 2030 and 2035
Bookman thinks it “very unlikely” that such a challenge will succeed, noting that New Zealand’s constitution is firmly anchored in parliamentary sovereignty.
But the expert in climate law does not see the bill as the end of legal action in the country, noting that New Zealand has a “sophisticated climate litigation landscape with a growing number of specialist and experienced lawyers and NGOs”.
The country is also approaching its next general election in November, and some opposition parties have pledged to restore access to the courts if elected.
Amanda Larsson, global project lead on agriculture for Greenpeace International, said: “This law deserves to be tested, and I strongly encourage the international climate litigation community to unite and help defend New Zealanders’ fundamental right to hold polluters accountable before this becomes a global blueprint.”
Copycat legislation on the rise
New Zealand’s move is part of a small but growing legislative effort to shut down climate litigation around the world.
In the US, Republican politicians introduced legislation in the House and Senate in April that would shield fossil fuel firms from climate liability lawsuits. Similar laws have already been passed at state level in Tennessee, Utah, Iowa and Louisiana.
The German state of Bavaria has put forward a similar proposal to the Federal Council, aiming to block private climate claims as well as the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments imposing such liability. There are also proposals to limit available remedies and actions in the Netherlands and Belgium.
UN General Assembly backs “climate obligations” set by world’s top court
Bookman said he expects more efforts to counter climate damages litigation and advised plaintiffs to think about how to respond, including drawing on broader support in opposing them.
“Even though it’s very hard for plaintiffs to win these types of cases, companies are very eager to avoid the expense, embarrassment and political accountability that come even with unsuccessful lawsuits,” he said.
The post New Zealand moves to protect business with law curtailing climate litigation appeared first on Climate Home News.
New Zealand moves to protect business with law curtailing climate litigation
Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara is the Executive Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS), an Indonesia-based economic think tank. Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat is the Director of the China-Indonesia desk at CELIOS.
Indonesia produces around 60% of the world’s nickel, a metal used to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) – more than any other country in the world. But in 2026, the government sharply reduced how much of its nickel can be extracted from the ground.
Production quotas were reduced by around 40% this year compared to 2025. Weda Bay, the largest nickel mine on Earth, had its allowance cut by more than 70% and exhausted its full-year quota by the end of May, halting mining entirely; it cannot resume large-scale extraction until next year unless regulators grant an extension.
The policy has sparked a vivid debate in Indonesian policy circles: how can the country shift its strategy from a decade of mining vast quantities of cheap nickel to producing a high-value and low-carbon material that the rest of the world wants for EV batteries.
The cuts aren’t a silver bullet to clean up Indonesia’s nickel industry, whose smelters are powered by coal – the most polluting fossil fuels. But alongside stricter enforcement of environmental rules, it is one side of efforts to produce more sustainable nickel for a premium.
Restricting Indonesia’s nickel output
Production quotas were introduced to stop the collapse of nickel prices because of oversupply in the market. Prices had fallen more than 40% in 2023 alone and kept sliding as Indonesian supply kept growing, hitting a four-year low of around $13,900 a ton in late 2025.
Critics called the recent tightening of production quotas proof that Indonesia’s nickel strategy has failed, arguing that the industry shouldn’t need to throttle its own output to survive. But when assessed against what the policy was supposed to do – push up nickel prices – it has worked. Prices jumped to $20,000 a ton in May, the highest since 2024.
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Chinese industry groups representing companies that have invested billions to mine and refine the country’s nickel were furious, warning Indonesia’s president Prabowo Subianto that the cuts put $50 billion worth of investment at risk. But much of that Chinese capital is sunk into smelters and processing plants built specifically to run on Indonesian ore, and cannot simply be moved elsewhere. That gives Jakarta more room to hold its ground than the warning suggests.
Stronger environmental enforcement
Since the start of the year, Indonesia’s forestry task force has seized more than four million hectares of land from mines and plantations operating illegally in protected forests, collecting over two trillion rupiah ($113 million) in fines.
This included 148 hectares seized from Weda Bay for lacking a forestry permit. The share of nickel produced from illegal small-scale mining also fell from about a quarter in 2022 to roughly 10% by 2024.
The crackdown responds to serious environmental damages in the nickel industry. On Obi Island, a waste pond collapsed after heavy rain in June 2025, flooding three villages and killing a resident. Internal company tests found chromium-6 – a carcinogen – in the water, in quantities far above the legal limit. The footprint of another mine near Raja Ampat, which is home to some of the world’s richest coral reefs, grew 60-fold in just eight years.
The market is responding to early cleanup efforts. Low-carbon nickel now sells for a real premium, roughly $18,800 to $19,300 a ton compared with $17,900 to $18,300 otherwise, as carmakers seek to source cleaner materials to comply with the European Union’s new emissions rules for imports.
In turn, this is incentivising the industry to do more to green its operations. Vale Indonesia’s smelter in South Sulawesi now runs almost entirely on hydropower, for example.
None of this addresses coal use, however. Major Indonesian nickel producers still emitted an estimated 15 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2023. Indonesia may be cracking down on illegal mining and rewarding cleaner producers but it is still running its mines on the dirtiest fuel available.
Unequal benefits
For Indonesia to truly benefit from producing cleaner and high-value nickel, it needs to reap the economic benefits too. Although the industry has boosted the country’s economic growth, the reality on the ground tells a different story.
Konawe in Southeast Sulawesi is home to a major smelting complex. Growth in the district jumped from 6% to 22% between 2015 and 2023, driven almost entirely by the nickel industry, according to a study by the Lowy Institute study. At the same time, poverty levels increased slightly and unemployment remained unchanged.
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Nickel mining for electric vehicles is destroying lives in Indonesia
Indonesia’s abundant nickel reserves are crucial for a low carbon world. But extracting them is ruining local peoples’ lives and causing rampant deforestation -
Indonesia turns traditional Indigenous land into nickel industrial zone
Indonesia supplies the EV industry with critical battery materials but the sector’s rapid expansion is infringing the rights of Indigenous peoples -
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In Halmahera, another epicentre of the nickel industry, spending by the poorest fifth grew just 5% between 2019 and 2022, compared with 28% for the wealthiest fifth, according to a separate study.
Part of the reason for this inequality is the system for transferring mining royalties to district authorities where the mines are located. In theory, they are entitled to the largest share. But in practice, payments are delayed, companies routinely dispute what they owe and royalties are pooled and distributed across a larger area.
The Natural Resource Governance Institute has found that decentralisation handed local governments power to approve new mines faster than they could build their capacity to manage them. Higher output raises national income on paper, but local governments remain constrained by fiscal rules and infrastructure costs that scale with mining.
None of this makes the 2026 quota cuts a mistake. Indonesia has every right to defend its pricing power over a resource it controls. But limiting extraction isn’t going to fix underlying issues around environmental enforcement and revenue-sharing. That requires rules that are consistently enforced, royalties that reach communities living by the mines, and a plan to wean smelters off coal.
The post Indonesia’s nickel production cuts are not enough to create a sustainable industry appeared first on Climate Home News.
Indonesia’s nickel production cuts are not enough to create a sustainable industry
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