First Edition, November 2022

The issue of energy access and transition has been one of Indonesia’s main concerns ever since it had committed to its emissions-reducing NDC as agreed in the Paris Agreement. However, up until now, Indonesia is still one of the biggest coal exporters in the world; and Indonesia’s energy source is still mainly dominated by fossil fuels. The strategies to slowly transition into renewable energy consists of two methods: the phasing out of coal fueled power plants and investments in renewable energy facilities. Unfortunately, even that has its own set of problems. Even in areas located near power plants, many villages in Indonesia still lack access to electricity. Economy wise, the phasing out of coal power plants led to a concern of how the existing workforce will adapt to the change, considering that there has yet to be a concrete plan to tackle this problem. The existing power plants and renewable energy projects also harbor an environmental concern: construction and production often bring harmful damage to the environment and to the health of the community living around the area.

One of the concepts that is in line with our focus in fighting for environmental sustainability and climate justice is the concept of Energy Democracy. In order to explain this concept to realizing equitable energy in Indonesia to policy makers in the future, we from the Action for Ecology and People Emancipation (AEER) have prepared a Policy Brief document to convince policymakers to adopt the policy recommendations offered.