Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Mining · Indonesia · date not stated

Sulawesi 'green nickel' runs on coal power; respiratory infections rose

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
What the record lacks: 3 none on record · 1 not measured · 1 unclear See the gaps

Nickel processing in Sulawesi relies on 6,965 MW of coal power, according to a May 2025 Mongabay Indonesia report. Respiratory tract infection cases in the area reportedly rose from 85 to 549.

What?
Sulawesi's nickel processing parks are supplied by coal power, and respiratory tract infection cases in the area are reported to have risen. Mongabay Indonesia (WALHI)
Where?
Morowali and other Sulawesi nickel parks, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia
When?
Report published 30 May 2025; the period over which the cases rose is not stated. Mongabay Indonesia (WALHI)
Who?
Gained
  • Indonesian state, IMIP, Huayou and Tsingshan — Nickel industrial growth; the case table lists these as gainers
Lost
  • Sulawesi and Maluku villages, workers and forest — Listed as losing in the case table
Harmed
  • People in the affected Sulawesi area — Respiratory tract infection cases reported to have risen from 85 to 549 Mongabay Indonesia (WALHI)
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Captive coal plants supply the smelters in the industrial parks.
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Mongabay Indonesia, reporting for WALHI, said in May 2025 that Indonesia's 'green nickel' in Sulawesi relies on 6,965 MW of coal power.

The same report said respiratory tract infection cases rose from 85 to 549.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • Unclear Reported without a source link: a 2025 Ministry of Environment inspection of the largest Morowali park found millions of tonnes of unpermitted slag and waste; whether sanctions followed is unclear.
    • None on record Reported without a source link: a furnace explosion at the same park killed 21 workers, and a waste dam collapse killed three more.
    • None on record Reported without a source link: coal-fired nickel is about three times the London Metal Exchange low-carbon threshold in carbon intensity.
    • None on record The sources reviewed do not establish when the infection cases rose, or give a study linking them to the plants.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Terms used on this page

    Insurance

    Captive insurer, self-insurance
    A company covering its own risks, either directly or through an insurance company it owns.
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