RUEN still targets the development of coal-fired power plants.
BETAHITA.ID — Civil society organizations under the Clean Energy Civil Society Coalition (KMSEB) have raised concerns and put forward a number of recommendations regarding the ongoing formulation of the National Energy General Plan (RUEN). The criticism was conveyed during a media discussion titled Forest and Land Fires, Pollution, Power Outages: What Is RUEN’s Answer?, held in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday (26 August 2026).
During the discussion, Maulida Zahra, Head of the Environmental Governance and Pollution Control Division at the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL), said Indonesia must accelerate its energy transition. This is because the energy sector accounts for 26% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In Indonesia, the energy sector is also the largest contributor to GHG emissions, particularly electricity generation, which accounts for 43%, followed by transportation at 25% and industry at 23%. All three sectors remain heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
She also pointed to an inconsistency in RUEN’s targets concerning the development of new coal-fired power plants. This is despite existing policies, including the National Energy Policy (KEN), Presidential Regulation No. 112 of 2022, the 2025 National Electricity General Plan (RUKN), and Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources regulations, which prohibit the construction of new coal-fired power plants.
“Coal-fired power plants contribute to air pollution and public health problems, causing approximately 6,500 premature deaths every year. If coal-fired power plants are gradually phased out by 2040, this could prevent 182,000 pollution-related deaths and save Rp1.9 quadrillion in public healthcare costs,” Maulida said on 26 August 2026.
Maulida emphasized that RUEN serves as a reference for development planning and will influence policies and regulations downstream. Therefore, RUEN must be aligned with the commitment to reduce the development of new coal-fired power plants.
The Coalition also stressed that the formulation of RUEN must be firmly situated within the context of the climate crisis, whose impacts are increasingly being felt across Indonesia. National energy policy must therefore serve as an instrument to reduce emissions, decrease dependence on fossil fuels, and ensure that the energy transition does not create new forms of ecological destruction and inequality.
The expansion of natural resource extraction in the energy sector is placing increasing pressure on spatial planning and the environment. Rising greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, ecosystem degradation, and increasingly acute conflicts over people’s living spaces demonstrate that energy policy can no longer be oriented solely toward meeting energy demand and pursuing economic growth.
According to the Coalition, RUEN must address these problems, including by correcting an energy development model that has historically relied on natural resource exploitation while generating significant social and ecological burdens. RUEN must not only adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis but also significantly strengthen the energy sector’s contribution to emissions reduction.
This need has become increasingly urgent because the current energy system and resource extraction activities have also left serious social and ecological problems. Post-mining environmental restoration obligations have not been fully implemented. Thousands of abandoned mine pits remain unreclaimed, some of which have resulted in fatalities, while mining activities continue to trigger land and livelihood conflicts.
The need to integrate energy governance with fair spatial and land governance is therefore increasingly evident. RUEN can no longer focus solely on what energy sources should be used and how energy demand should be met to achieve National Energy Policy (KEN) targets. It must also address the use of space and land, environmental and community impacts, and who ultimately bears the ecological costs of energy development.
PWYP Indonesia researcher Ariyansah NK said the target of 45.2 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2025 had resulted in only 14.08 GW of realization—well below half of the target. Meanwhile, the commitment to end fuel imports no later than 2025 was also not achieved, with imports still reaching 28.89 million kiloliters (KL), or 34.15% of total national fuel demand. Similar shortcomings can also be seen in coal-related targets.
According to Ariyansah, these failures demonstrate that although members of the National Energy Council (DEN) have committed to developing renewable energy as a solution to Indonesia’s dependence on fossil fuels, the country remains heavily dependent on fossil energy in practice. This indicates that DEN’s position and role have not been sufficiently robust in effectively overseeing the implementation of RUEN.
“This represents a failure of the previous DEN. DEN’s role in overseeing RUEN was not sufficiently robust. This must become a key lesson and an evaluation point going forward,” Ariyansah said.
On coal, Ariyansah urged RUEN to retain provisions concerning a moratorium on Mining Business Licenses (IUP) and Special Mining Business Licenses (IUPK) in primary natural forests and peatlands located within conservation areas, protected forests, production forests, and other designated land-use areas. He also stressed that coal production limits must not legitimize the national overproduction that has occurred in recent years, exceeding the levels stipulated under RUEN.
Coal contributes 51% of Indonesia’s CO₂ emissions. Beyond CO₂, Indonesia’s high level of coal production also contributes to increases in methane (CH₄), another greenhouse gas. In 2024, emissions associated with coal mine development were potentially eight times higher than the official figures reported by the Indonesian government, according to PWYP Indonesia (2026).
“The moratorium must remain in RUEN. It must also be accompanied by environmental restoration efforts. Coal mining must take spatial planning and land governance into account,” Ariansyah said.
Ariansyah argued that energy development must not, in practice, result in the dispossession of communities from their living spaces, deforestation, or environmental degradation—outcomes that fundamentally contradict climate mitigation goals. He added that the current RUEN provision setting national coal production at 400 million tonnes remains relevant.
“Ideally, national production targets set by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources should follow or refer to the 400-million-tonne figure. However, actual production does not reflect that,” he said.
Meaningful Public Participation
In terms of public participation, the formulation process for RUEN 2026–2035 has yet to involve groups directly affected by mining, power plants, industrial areas, land conflicts, and environmental degradation resulting from energy development.
Beyrra Triasdian, Renewable Energy Campaigner at Trend Asia, said the available public consultation mechanisms were not sufficiently open, accessible, or inclusive to ensure that community voices genuinely influence the substance of the policy. The orientation of RUEN, she added, remains focused on lists of power plant projects and energy development activities rather than building a just energy transition.
“The revision of RUEN is moving very quickly, behind closed doors, and with minimal meaningful participation from communities that have borne the impacts of an extractive energy development model,” Beyrra said.
RUEN, Beyrra continued, should establish clear quantitative targets for each type of energy while ensuring that its policy direction does not reproduce old patterns that destroy people’s living spaces and disregard experiences at the local level. Amid an increasingly evident climate crisis, RUEN must not stop at an approach based merely on regional potential. Instead, it must accelerate a just transition toward renewable energy, establish a roadmap for fossil fuel phase-out, and close the door to false solutions packaged as “low-carbon” technologies.
Another researcher argued that RUEN 2026–2035 has also yet to position the principles of gender equality, disability, and social inclusion (GEDSI) as an important part of the formulation process.
Rina Prasarani, Chair of Advocacy and Awareness Raising at the Indonesian Association of Women with Disabilities (HWDI), explained that persons with disabilities are often positioned merely as policy objects and beneficiaries, even though they are also active energy users with needs, experiences, and perspectives that are essential to shaping national energy policy.
“RUEN must fully apply GEDSI principles—not merely in terms of equal physical access, but also by ensuring that persons with disabilities are meaningfully involved and included in social protection mechanisms from the environmental impact assessment (AMDAL) stage through to evaluation,” she said.
DEN’s Response
The National Energy Council (DEN) has encouraged meaningful participation from all stakeholders and urged the public to proactively submit input rather than wait to be invited, given that the process must be completed no later than October 2026 in accordance with Government Regulation No. 40 of 2025.
Regarding renewable energy performance, which remains below target, DEN said that both internal and external dynamics had affected progress, noting that under normal conditions renewable energy remains more expensive than conventional energy. DEN also highlighted that as long as subsidies for conventional energy remain in place, accelerating the transition to renewable energy will be difficult to achieve optimally.
“Under normal conditions, renewable energy is more expensive than conventional energy. If we move too quickly, accessibility may perhaps be achieved, but affordability may not necessarily follow. We cannot do both—promote renewable energy while continuing to subsidize conventional energy,” said Mohamad Fadhil Hasan, a member of DEN.
Source: Betahita