These days, the world’s attention is fixed on Santa Marta, Colombia. There, the first-ever global conference fully dedicated to transitioning away from fossil fuels is taking place. More than 50 countries are attending, including many fossil fuel-producing nations. Yet Indonesia—a country with the largest coal reserves in Southeast Asia and the world’s top nickel producer—is absent from the official negotiations.
Indonesia’s absence from this forum is not merely a logistical issue; it represents a missed opportunity for Asia-Pacific voices to articulate a deeply contextual regional perspective. The conference is built upon three core pillars: addressing economic dependence on fossil fuels, transforming fossil fuel supply and demand, and strengthening international cooperation and climate diplomacy. For Asia-Pacific countries, the first pillar—breaking free from fossil-fuel economic dependence—is by far the most urgent issue.
Paradoxes and Double Burdens
Asia-Pacific embodies the paradox of the global energy transition. Indonesia supplies much of the world’s nickel, while other countries in the region possess strategic reserves of bauxite, cobalt, and rare earth minerals. The opportunities for downstream industrialization and the development of green industrial value chains are indeed enormous. Yet these opportunities come with serious risks: the emergence of a new form of green extractivism.
Today, many Asia-Pacific countries remain trapped in a dual dependency. In Indonesia, coal remains the backbone of the national power system, supplying around 70% of the electricity mix and contributing nearly 50% of regional revenues in mining-rich provinces such as East Kalimantan and South Sumatra. In Vietnam, coal’s share in electricity generation also remains close to 50%. The energy transition is therefore not merely a technical matter of replacing machines but a massive structural economic transformation.
Asia-Pacific carries a double burden: being pressured to rapidly “repent” of fossil fuels while simultaneously being pushed to become the raw-material supplier for the green ambitions of Global North countries. Santa Marta must acknowledge that this transition cannot become another chapter of “green colonialism,” where Asia-Pacific once again becomes merely an extraction site without added value and without protection.
ISDS and the Fiscal Trap
The greatest obstacles are the debt trap and the high cost of capital. Asia-Pacific countries often face borrowing costs far higher than those in developed economies. Existing debts from coal-fired power projects continue to erode fiscal space. Instead of allocating public budgets toward renewable energy, governments are forced to service debt repayments while maintaining fossil fuel revenues. As a result, fossil dependence becomes even more deeply entrenched.
This condition is worsened by Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). This arbitration mechanism allows foreign corporations to sue national governments over climate policies deemed harmful to their expected profits. In the Asia-Pacific, ISDS not only obstructs early coal retirement but also threatens sovereignty over critical minerals. Investors may claim billions of dollars if governments tighten environmental standards or protect Indigenous communities. Colombia’s recent decision to withdraw from new ISDS agreements should serve as an example for Asia-Pacific countries.
South-South Cooperation and the Just Transition Mechanism
Amid debt traps and ISDS constraints, South-South Cooperation has emerged as one of the most concrete solutions currently gaining momentum in Santa Marta. This is not merely diplomatic rhetoric, but a practical platform for peer learning. Asia-Pacific already possesses valuable experience: from Indonesia’s nickel downstreaming efforts to Vietnam’s coal phase-out initiatives to the challenges of protecting local communities in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines.
Through South-South Cooperation, countries can accelerate knowledge sharing, strengthen subnational capacities, and formulate context-specific green industrialization strategies. This cooperation allows Asia-Pacific nations to build fair green industrial value chains without depending entirely on Global North “assistance,” which often comes with strict conditions. The participation of civil society, affected mine workers, women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples must become central to this cooperation.
Although Santa Marta focuses on political will, these ambitions will collapse if they are not connected to strong technical mechanisms at the global level. This is why the Santa Marta momentum is crucial for strengthening the Just Transition Mechanism (JTM), which is currently being negotiated within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process.
For Indonesian and regional civil society coalitions, the JTM must not become a weak coordination platform. It must function as a real pipeline for justice. At a minimum, there are three fundamental demands:
First, Grant-Based Financing. Energy transition in Asia-Pacific must not deepen debt burdens. If this transition is a global responsibility, then financing must be grant-based as a form of historical responsibility from developed countries.
Second, Sovereignty over Transition Minerals. Asia-Pacific must not merely become a market or a source of raw materials. The JTM must guarantee technology transfer and institutional capacity-building so that the region can develop independent green industries rather than remain spectators on the sidelines of the global transition highway.
Third, Meaningful Participation. A just transition must reach the frontlines of extraction. Coal workers who risk losing their jobs and Indigenous communities whose living spaces are threatened by nickel mining must become primary stakeholders, not merely procedural accessories.
Next year, the follow-up Santa Marta conference will be held in Tuvalu, a small Pacific island nation among the most vulnerable to the climate crisis. This sends a powerful signal that the Asia-Pacific must become a leader, not merely a follower. Once again, the Santa Marta Conference is a test of global leadership. If the world is truly serious about moving away from fossil fuels, then the international legal architecture that protects fossil fuel interests must first be dismantled. ISDS must be removed from all future investment agreements.
For the Indonesian government and leaders across the Asia-Pacific, this momentum should be used to strengthen bargaining positions. We must not be trapped in the false dichotomy of “economy versus environment.” We must demand both: an economy that grows with justice and an environment that remains sustainable. Santa Marta must send a strong signal that energy transition is not about saving corporations, but about saving people and their future. It is time for the Asia-Pacific to stop being sacrificed in the global energy supply chain and instead become a force shaping the direction of a truly just transition.
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