Jakarta, August 1, 2025 – Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Indonesia participated in the Asia Network for People’s Energy (ANPE) Learning Session on Social Accountability (SAcc) for Just Energy Transition, organized in collaboration with Oxfam Philippines. This event served as a crucial momentum to affirm that energy transition should not be viewed merely as a technical and financial agenda, but must become a people-driven movement that is just, transparent, and inclusive.
In this session, Mouna Wasef, Head of the Research and Advocacy Division at PWYP Indonesia, presented updates on Indonesia’s Comprehensive Investment and Policy Plan (CIPP) within the framework of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). The CIPP was first launched on November 21, 2023, as a strategic roadmap for Indonesia’s energy transition, agreed upon after the JETP agreement was announced at the G20 Summit in Bali on November 15, 2022.
This document is designed as a living document that can be periodically updated based on public input, including through consultations held in November 2023. Despite its ambitious goals, such as peaking emissions in the electricity sector by 2030, increasing the share of renewable energy to 44 percent in the electricity mix, and expanding the power grid to support the integration of renewable energy, the implementation of the CIPP has so far been assessed as facing significant obstacles.
As of early 2025, only about 1.2 billion US dollars out of the total 20 billion dollar commitment has been disbursed. The withdrawal of the United States’ 3 billion dollar commitment has added to the challenges, although Germany and Japan continue to demonstrate their commitment. Meanwhile, the issuance of the Electricity Supply Business Plan (RUPTL) 2025–2034 in June 2025 has created new contradictions by projecting a 40 percent increase in fossil-based power plant capacity by 2034. The renewable energy target has also been lowered to 17 GW by 2030, far below the 24.3 GW target set in the CIPP, while gas capacity has been doubled beyond the recommended limits. This indicates that national energy policies are still reliant on fossils, potentially hindering the achievement of a just energy transition.
PWYP Indonesia emphasizes that energy transition is not just about technical and financial aspects, but must also place social accountability at its core. Governments, financial institutions, and energy companies are required to be accountable to the public through transparent, participatory, and corruption-free mechanisms. The principles of gender equality, disability, and social inclusion (GEDSI) must be integrated at every stage of planning, implementation, and monitoring. In this way, energy transition can truly provide fair and equitable benefits to all layers of society, especially vulnerable groups that have often been marginalized in planning and decision-making processes.
Patricia Nicdao from Manawari Southeast Asia affirmed that social justice must be the foundation of every accountability framework in the energy transition. The four dimensions of justice—recognition, procedural, distributional, and remedial—must be realized in practice. Recognition means acknowledging the existence of vulnerable groups such as women, youth, indigenous peoples, and persons with disabilities in decision-making processes. Procedural justice demands transparent and participatory methods. Distributional justice requires that the benefits and burdens of energy transition be distributed fairly, while remedial justice ensures adequate compensation and support for those negatively impacted.
Research findings also reveal that formal participation spaces available so far, such as consultations within the environmental impact analysis (AMDAL) framework, are often limited and not sufficiently inclusive. Civil society groups still face many barriers, ranging from capacity limitations and security risks to gender-based and social status discrimination.
Women, for example, are often not considered decision-makers in families or communities, so their voices are less accounted for in formal forums. Youth face challenges in maintaining long-term involvement, while indigenous peoples are often marginalized due to mismatches between customary law and the prevailing formal legal system. Additionally, access to data and information related to energy transition projects remains limited. In Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries, public information requests are often rejected on grounds of confidentiality, without precise appeal mechanisms.
These findings affirm that a just energy transition requires a more strategic and participatory approach. Governments are expected to strengthen vertical, horizontal, and diagonal accountability mechanisms at every level of governance, as well as guarantee the public’s right to information. Financial institutions and energy companies are encouraged to go beyond the “not harm” principle toward “do good” by respecting community decisions, including the right to reject projects, and providing fair and accessible grievance and redress mechanisms. Meanwhile, civil society organizations need to continue utilizing available formal spaces while creating new ones to expand participation, strengthen community capacities, and ensure advocacy that is truly transformative from a gender perspective.