GREEN ECONOMY AS THE NEW FACE OF INDONESIA’S MINING

Daffa Mujahid Abdullah 12121013

Mining is a fundamental sector for human civilization, yet it is undeniable that the face of mining in Indonesia has more frequently been viewed negatively. This is possible because some of the community think that mining significantly damages the ecosystem and even leads to climate change. For example, land clearing in coal mining industry might result in increased carbon emission. Such land clearing, which is usually performed in a forest area, will cause deforestation, rendering the forest function as carbon emission reducer ineffective. Given this problem, a breakthrough to change the mining industry to allow it to have a better face is desperately needed. This new face should be capable of giving benefit and stability to the socio-economic

Source: https://unsplash.com/ and environmental aspects in a sustainable fashion. One principle that can be applied to make this ideal come true is the green economic principle in mining.

Green economy is an economic notion aiming to improve the community’s social welfare and equity, and at the same time reduce the potential damage to the environment significantly. This notion is by no means new, rather it is a rebranding of the sustainable development program launched by the Western countries in 1990s. It is imperative to immediately apply this principle considering the constantly increasing economic growth as time goes by to up to over 100% for 1981-2005, and it is directly proportional to ecological damage up to over 60%.

In the world currently moving towards the eco-friendly technology and industry, the government of Indonesia has attempted many programs to realize it such as the Net Zero Emission 2060 road map that discusses the gradual operation stoppage of coalfueled power plants to be replaced with low-emission technology and conversion to electric vehicles in the future. The plan to gradually cease the operation of steam power plant (PLTU) is supported by the government as stipulated in Presidential Regulation No. 112 Year 2022 concerning New Renewable Energy (EBT) and Electricity Provision. They are the attempts that the government makes to support green economy in the future.

As the government exerts their strategy to suppress carbon emission, mining companies also contribute to the application of green economy as they take various steps and strategies for decarbonization purpose. For example, PT Antam Tbk manages to suppress their carbon dioxide emission by 47,000 tons thanks to their post-mining rehabilitation, PT Bukit Asam Tbk records 256,000 tons carbon emission with their featured program that has a significant effect on CO2 reduction through carbon capture and reforestation, and PT Inalum (Persero) helps reduce carbon emission by 60,000 tons of CO2e by reducing the anode effect in pot optimization. At the same time, PT Timah Tbk produces 87,000 tons of carbon emission by shifting their use of HSD to biofuel (B30) and compensate the carbon emission. From these steps, it can be seen that the decarbonization programs can be performed in many ways. In the mining commodity down streaming, critical metal mineral and rareearth elements (LTJ) in Indonesia play an important role in EBT products. LTJ and critical metal mineral are the main raw materials to make solar cell components and wind power technology, where both renewable technologies are the most common ones. This is supported by paragraph 1 of article 103 of Law Number 3 Year 2022 that sets forth that “IUP or IUPK holders during the mineral production operation stage as referred to in Article l02 are required to process and/or purify the minerals obtained from domestic mining.” The exploration, exploitation, and purification of critical metal minerals and LTJ will support the fulfillment of needs for raw materials to make EBT products to be used as a solution for energy transition in the future. waste can be dealt with by making good use of the waste as resources. Such practice is commonly known as circular economic concept, and this surely support the application of green economy. For example, PT Freeport Indonesia uses (tailing) waste to mix the polymer concrete and cement at a composition of Portland 29.4%, polymer 0.6 %, and tailing 70% to construct the road to Grasberg and build employee housing. In addition, PT Antam Tbk also utilizes tailing to make paving blocks in Bintan Island. These attempts that the mining industry, both the companies and the government, have made are intended to fulfill the increasingly complex human needs without having to sacrifice their environment. This is also one of the contributions that the mining sector applying the green economy principle make to the realization of SDGs’ 7th point on “clean and renewable energy” and 13th point on “climate change handling.” It is this new face that will change what people think of the mining world, from the one they thought could only damage the environment, could now contribute in the attempt to mitigate climate change in the world through the various programs they organize.

The energy transition is also carried out by mining companies, particularly the mineral processing plants previously relying on coals as their source of energy, by shifting to EBT now. For example, PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Persero), commonly known as PT INALUM, uses the hydro power plant (PLTA) Sigura Gura and PLTA Tangga whose water upstream comes from Toba Lake at 603-megawatt capacity. In another place, PT PLN (Persero) will supply the new renewable energy or EBT power plant at 170 Megavolt (MVA) to PT Anugerah Tambang Smelter in Palu. Taking these steps based on the green economy principle will surely result in lower carbon emission and improved health of the community around the plants.

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