The story of the Cirebon 1 coal power project is symptomatic of the obstacles in Indonesia’s coal phase-out plan. As the first pilot for the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM), Cirebon 1 may be decommissioned 10 to 15 years earlier than planned, but its environmental and social impacts remain unaddressed, while a new plant is being built nearby.
Coal workers hope education can help the next generation win cleaner, healthier jobs in a region that has been wedded to dirty, dangerous mining for over a century.