1 September 2025
Advocates push for passage of Climate Justice Law
A total of 600 participants from 20 provinces in Indonesia attended the Indonesia Climate Justice Summit (ICJS), held at the Serba Guna Hall, Gelora Bung Karno Stadium area in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 26 to 28 August 2025. The ICJS was intended to consolidate civil society's response to the climate crisis affecting the people and to urge the ratification of the Climate Justice Law, currently being deliberated in the Indonesian National Parliament. Eight affected groups (farmers, laborers, people with disabilities, women, indigenous peoples, youth, fishermen, and the urban poor) voiced their demands to the representatives of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI) present at the closing ceremony of the ICJS.
In a declaration held across from the Indonesian Presidential Palace, Puspa Dewy, Coordinator of the People's Alliance for Climate Justice (ARUK), the organiser of the ICJS, declared that the ICJS is the collective voice of the Indonesian people, reflecting on their lived experiences facing injustice. "The climate crisis is not simply an ecological problem, but a manifestation of profound structural injustice, both nationally and globally," she stated. BWI, along with six federations from Global Union affiliates in Indonesia, co-hosted the energy justice workshop, calling for the importance of building multi-sectoral capacity to address the climate crisis, empower communities, and build equitable systems. Labour groups also called for the rejection of the privatisation of the electricity sector, which would cause misery to the people.
Rieke Dyah Pitaloka, a member of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), who attended the closing ceremony of the ICJS, stated after receiving direct mandates from participants that the struggle is not easy, and therefore, the parliament is asking for support from all citizens. "The laws you propose will become a mandate for us, and therefore, we need your support," she emphasised in her speech to the participants.