Indonesia’s Chinese-led EV battery build-out ties cell manufacturing in Karawang, West Java to upstream nickel in East Halmahera, North Maluku via the Feni Haltim JV with HK CBL. On the ground in Halmahera, the supply chain plugs into the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP), sourcing ore largely from PT Weda Bay Nickel. This acceleration sits alongside policy shifts that worry communities, including February 2025 amendments in mining law to hasten “downstreaming” and a March 2025 TNI Act revision enabling active-duty military in civilian roles, both seen as weakening oversight and grievance pathways. Technologically, Indonesia’s 44 smelters and the IWIP complex lean on coal: IWIP operates 11 captive coal plants with 3 more building toward 4.54 GW, locking a “green” industry into high-carbon power.

Those system choices are already surfacing as concrete harms in the very upstream districts feeding China-backed expansion. Community data and NGO testing show water contamination in rivers such as Ake Doma, Wosia, and Kobe and heavy-metal loads in sediments and fish, followed by May 2025 biomonitoring where 47% of sampled residents exceeded safe blood-mercury levels and 32% exceeded arsenic thresholds. Health centers report respiratory infections soaring from 434 cases (2020) to 10,579 (2023) near IWIP, consistent with coal-plant and industrial emissions. Deforestation has coincided with at least 13 severe floods since IWIP’s start, including displacements of more than 1,700 people from July–August 2024. Residents from Sagea and nearby Sawai and Tobelo communities describe land loss, lack of FPIC, and opaque consultations amid rumored 22,000 ha of expansion; cultural sites like the Bokimaruru karst and the Sagea River face sedimentation risks. For investors and buyers—CATL/CBL/Brunp, Lygend, Antam/IBC, Tsingshan/Huayou/Zhenshi, Eramet (and prospective financiers such as Danantara)—and downstream automakers (Tesla, Ford, Volkswagen), these impacts highlight the urgency of embedding rigorous sustainability safeguards, transparent permitting, and verifiable emissions standards if Indonesia’s EV supply chain is to be truly sustainable.