Carbon emission and environmental cost from coal production in Indonesia

Authors

  • Zahidah Mahroini Urban Governance, National Taipei University, Taiwan
  • Yu-Lan Chien Institute of Natural Resources Management, National Taipei University, Taiwan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15243/jdmlm.2024.114.6387

Keywords:

air pollutants , coal production , external cost , GHG emission , water pollutants

Abstract

Indonesia primarily exports coal, with an average annual quantity of over 421 million tonnes in the past decades (2011-2020), reaching its peak at 616 million tonnes in 2019. Despite its economic benefits, coal production carries hidden costs. This research delves into using life cycle assessment (LCA) to gauge the environmental impact of coal production and estimate external cost (EC) related to Greenhouse gases (GHG) and air pollutants (AP). The study applied the benefit transfer method to make these estimations, focusing on coal mining and international transport processes. The findings revealed that over the past decades, per tonne coal mining contributed an estimated EC of $12.54-15.26 for GHG and $3,439-5,250 for AP, while transport abroad per-tonne-km coal incurred an EC of $19.98-23.94 for GHG and $19.58-23.30 for AP. Moreover, coal mining contributes to water pollution and substantial water depletion. Despite the coal production in Indonesia generating around $40 billion in revenue in 2020, the study shows that the total EC from GHG and AP is up to $2,131 billion, which is 53 times the revenue, posing serious health and ecological risks to Indonesians and exacerbating global climate change. Notably, these estimates exclude EC from water pollution (WP) and water depletion. With the global push towards ‘net zero emissions’, the coal industry as a whole faces an urgent need to curb its GHG and AP emissions from its.

References

Abood, S.A., Lee, J.S.H., Burivalova, Z., Garcia-Ulloa, J. and Koh, L.P. 2015. Relative contributions of the logging, fiber, oil palm, and mining industries to forest loss in Indonesia. Conservation Letters 8(1):58-67. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12103

Aguirre-Villegas, H.A. and Benson, C.H. 2017. Case history of environmental impacts of an Indonesian coal supply chain. Journal of Cleaner Production 157:4756. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.03.232

Arinaldo, D., Adiatma, J.C. and Simamora, P. 2019. Indonesia Clean Energy Outlook 2019. Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), https://iesr.or.id/pustaka/indonesia-clean-energyoutlook.

Asia Fund Manager. 2022. Indonesia Economy. https://asiafundmanagers.com/us/indonesia-economy/.

Bengsston, S., Anderson, K. and Fridell, E. 2011. A comparative life cycle assessment of marine fuels: liquified natural gas and three other fossil fuels. Journal of Engineering for Maritime Environment 225(2):97110. https://doi.org/10.1177/1475090211402136

Berenschot, W. 2018. The political economy of clientelism: a comparative study of Indonesia's patronage democracy. Comparative Political Studies 51(12):15631593. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414018758756

Burchart-Korol, D., Fugiel, A., Czaplicka-Kolarz, K. and Turek, M. 2016. Model of environmental life cycle assessment for coal mining operations. Science of the Total Environment 562:61-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.03.202

Carleton, T. and Greenstone, M. 2021, Updating the United States government's social cost carbon. Working paper. No 2021-04, Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3764255

Chrysolite, H., Utami, A.F., Mahardika, D. and Wijaya, A. 2020. Working paper. Looking past the horizon: the case for Indonesian's long-term strategy for climate action. World Resource Institute.

Dewi, M.K. 2021. Marine pollution due to coal spills in the Meulaboh sea viewed from an environmental law perspective. Jurnal Hasil Penelitian 6(2):58-70 (in Indonesian). https://doi.org/10.30996/jhp17.v6i2.6217

Djajatmadja, R. and Wisnuwardhani, A.D. 2022. Legal protection to coal ash pollution in Marunda. Proceeding of International Conference in Social Science University of Merdeka Malang, 3(1):79-83.

Elias, S. and Noone, C. 2011. The growth and development of Indonesian economy developments. Bulletin Reserved Bank of Australia December Quarter:33-44.

Gumaraes da Silva, M., Muniz, A.R.C., Hoffman, R. and Lisboa, A.C.L. 2018. Impact of greenhouse gases on surface coal mining in Brazil. Journal of Cleaner Production 193:206-216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.05.076

Hadiz, V.R. and Robinson, R. 2013 The political economy of oligarchy the reorganization of power in Indonesia, No. 96, Special Issue: Wealth, Power, and Contemporary Indonesian Politics (October 2013), pp. 35-57. Published by: Cornell University Press. https://doi.org/10.5728/indonesia.96.0033

Hossain, A. 2006, Sources of economic growth in Indonesia, 1966-2003. Applied Econometrics and International Development 6(2):184-208.

ISO. 2004. Life Cycle Assessment Best Practices of ISO 14040 Series Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy Republic of Korea Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Committee on Trade and Investment.

Marganingrum, D. and Noviardi, R. 2010. Water and soil pollution in the coal mining area at PT Berau Coal, East Kalimantan. Riset Geologi dan Pertambangan 20(1):11-20 (in Indonesian). https://doi.org/10.14203/risetgeotam2010.v20.30

Miettinen, J., Shi, C. and Liew, S.C. 2016. Land cover distribution in the peatlands of peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo in 2015 with changes since 1990. Global Ecology and Conservation 6:67-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2016.02.004

Mining Advocacy Network. 2019. Who is the ruler of the land of East Kalimantan? http://jatam.org/siapa penguasa-tanah-kaltim (in Indonesian).

Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources on Indonesia. 2020. Handbook of Energy and Economic Statistics of Indonesia (HESSI), ISBN 2528-3464.

Ministry of Investment of Indonesia. 2021. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), http://www6.bkpm.go.id/id/statistic/investasi-langsungluar-negeri-fdi%0A.

Ministry of Trade of Indonesia. 2021. Indonesia Export and Import. One trading data. https://satudata.kemendag.go.id/export-import%0A (in Indonesian).

National Disaster Management Agency of Indonesia. 2021, http://bnbp.go.id, accessed on m 2022.

Nordhaus, W.D. 2017. Revisiting the social cost of carbon. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of United States of America 114(7):1518-1523. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1609244114

Pandey., B., Agrawal, M. and Singh, S. 2014. Assessment of air pollution around coal mining area: emphasizing on spatial distributions, seasonal variations and heavy metals, using cluster and principal component analysis Atmospheric Pollution Research 5(1):79-86. https://doi.org/10.5094/APR.2014.010

Pirmana, V., Alisjahbana, A.S., Yusuf, A.A., Hoekstra, R. and Tukker, A. 2021. Environmental for improved environmental-economic account for Indonesia. Journal of Cleaner Production 280:124521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124521

Pratama, M.B., Multazima, R. and Azkiarizqi, I.N. 2021. Hydrometeorological aspects of the 2021 South Kalimantan flood: Topography, ties and precipitation. International Journal of Remote Sensing and Earth Science 18(1):7390. https://doi.org/10.30536/j.ijreses.2021.v18.a3539

Singh, J.S., Singh, K.P. and Agrawal, M. 1991. Environmental degradation of the Obra-Renukoot Singarauli area, India, and its impact on natural and derived ecosystems. Environmentalist 11:171-180. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01263230

Subagiyo, L, Nuryadin, A., Sulaeman, N. and Widyastuti, R. 2019. Water quality status of Kalimantan water bodies based on the pollution index. Pollution Research 38(3): 536-543.

Syahrir, R., Wall., F. and. Diallo, P. 2020. Socio-economic impacts and sustainability of mining, a case study of the historical tin mining in Singkep Island-Indonesia. The Extractive Industries and Society 7(4):1525-1533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2020.07.023

Tao, M., Cheng, W., Nie, K., Zhang, X. and Co, W. 2022. Life cycle assessment of underground coal mining in China. Science of the Total Environment 805(2):150231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150231

Toumbourou, T., Muhdar, M., Warner, T. and Bebbington, A. 2020. Political ecologies of the post-mining landscape: activism, resistance, and legal struggles over Kalimantan's coal mines, Energy and Social Science 65:101476. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101476

World Bank. 2022. https://worldbank.org/en/country/indonesia/overv iew.

Word Bank. 2023. The invisible toll of COVID-19 on Learning, Indonesia economic prospects. International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Washington DC.

Word Bank. 2024. Indonesia Index Price and Indonesia exchange rate, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/FP.CPI.TOTL?loca tions=ID.

Wu, Y., Liu, D., Wang., X., Li., S., Zang, J., Qiou, H., Ding, S., Hu, K., Li, W., Tian, P., Liu, Q., Zhao, D., Ma, E., Chen, M., Xu, H., Ouyang, B., Chen, Y., Kong, S., Ge, X. and Liu, H. 2021. Ambient marine shipping emissions determined by vessel operation mode along the East China sea. Science of the Total Environment 769:144713. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144713

Yuniarto, A. and Amalia, D. 2022. Determining environmental improvement programs on the impact of coal mining process emissions using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. Jurnal Darma Agung 30(1):426-438 (in Indonesian). https://doi.org/10.46930/ojsuda.v30i1.1732

Yusuf, M. 2023. Patterns of temperature relationship to formation methane gas emissions in spontaneous combustion of coal in the temporary stockpile of West Banko. Jurnal Pertambangan 7(4):182-190 (in Indonesian). https://doi.org/10.36706/jp.v7i4.2173

Zhang, C., Shi, Z., Zho, J., Zhang, Y., Yu., Y., Mu, Y., Yao, X., Feng, L., Zhang, F., Chen, Y., Liu, X., Shi, J. and Gao, H. 2021. Impact of air emission from shipping on marine phytoplankton growth, Science of the Total Environment 769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145488

Downloads

Submitted

27-03-2024

Accepted

28-05-2024

Published

01-07-2024

How to Cite

Mahroini, Z., & Chien, Y.-L. (2024). Carbon emission and environmental cost from coal production in Indonesia . Journal of Degraded and Mining Lands Management, 11(4), 6387–6397. https://doi.org/10.15243/jdmlm.2024.114.6387

Issue

Section

Research Article