by Pochoy Labog, Southeast Asia Programme Manager, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

In the space of a few short months leading up to COP30, typhoons have ravaged Southeast Asia. The strongest tropical cyclone, Ragasa, classified as Category 5, pummeled northern Philippines and Vietnam, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and southern China last month, leaving fatalities and economic damage in excess of USD 1.2 billion. The cyclone came only weeks after typhoon Kajiki and was swiftly followed by typhoon Bualoi – which together caused deaths and damage costing hundreds of millions.

Calamities like these have become normal in recent years due to climate change, and the chances of them waning are very low. Every year, communities – often already the most vulnerable – suffer tremendously in extreme weather, and help does not seem to be coming their way.

The private sector’s role in creating these conditions has long been under scrutiny. In 2022, the Philippines' Commission on Human Rights (CHR) found 47 major fossil fuel producing companies or the "Carbon Majors" responsible for human rights abuses due to their role in climate change. This year, Filipinos who suffered the wrath of Typhoon Rai in 2021 are set to sue Shell before the courts in the United Kingdom for climate damage.

People are taking action against those responsible for the climate crisis. But how are governments and businesses responding to the world’s foremost existential threat? In the Asia-Pacific region, we are seeing supposed climate solutions compounding the problem.

The Resource Centre tracked 127 allegations of abuse linked to the mining of minerals essential for the energy transition between 2010 and 2024 in the Asia-Pacific region – 15% of the global total. Indonesia alone accounts for 45 of these cases of alleged abuse, largely linked to the extraction of its vast deposits of nickel, which makes its way to the production of electric vehicles by some of the largest players in the world.

Nickel mining in Indonesia has led to serious human rights and environmental impacts. At least 76,030.71  hectares of forests have been cleared in Indonesia's nickel concessions. These forests include endemic rainforests, many of which are key natural carbon sinks and critical biodiversity areas. Nickel mining has also spread to small islands, which are more vulnerable to mining impacts: on Wawonii island, nickel mining has resulted in land clearing in forest areas above villages, causing contamination of communities’ water supply. Meanwhile, nickel mining on Kabaena island is threatening the Indigenous Bajau people’s way of life and the delicate marine ecosystems they depend on.

And it is not just about mining. Through a series of policies implemented from 2009 to 2019, Indonesia has progressively banned the export of nickel ore, requiring companies process nickel domestically before export. Chinese companies have dominated the investment in nickel processing, pouring money into industrial parks such as the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Central Sulawesi and the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP) on Halmahera Island in North Maluku province.

Industrial parks housing smelters used to process nickel need power. To meet their needs, they use captive coal plants – power sources that directly feed into nickel smelting operations –adding considerably to Indonesia’s carbon emissions. Coal consumption in these industrial parks accounts for more than 15% of the entire country’s coal use. So – ironically – coal-powered industrial parks are being used to process nickel to feed into the supply chains of EVs intended to reduce global carbon emissions. The Global Energy Monitor’s report published in 2024 reveals the rapid growth of captive coal plants that supply electricity directly to industrial facilities, making it the third-largest country in terms of new coal capacity additions in 2024. This contradiction lies at the centre of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), a USD 20 billion initiative introduced during the G20 Summit in November 2022 to support the country's shift to clean energy.

Issues linked to transition mineral mining extend beyond Indonesia: the Philippines ranks second in Southeast Asia in terms of allegations of abuse, with nine allegations tracked on our TMT. It is also the most dangerous country in Asia for environmental and human rights defenders who raise concerns about business operations, with at least 411 attacks recorded in 10 years, according to the Resource Centre’s data. Defenders, especially Indigenous Peoples, challenging corporate harm in mining-related projects in the country have suffered attacks ranging from judicial harassment and physical assault to disappearances and killings.

On the road to another COP, governments and businesses need to come together to promote solutions that do not replicate the abuses brought about the fossil fuel industry. Supposed solutions to the climate crisis must not come at the expense of the environment and human rights. For JETP countries like Indonesia, this means fully embracing the “just” dimension of the transition, grounding it in three core principles: shared prosperity, human rights and social protection, and fair negotiations. Shared prosperity must be built into the design and delivery of the transition so that communities, workers and wider society may tangibly benefit from the transition.