Indonesian villagers take on Swiss cement giant Holcim to seek climate justice
- Four of Pari Island’s 1200 residents are suing company for compensation after tidal flooding due to global warming, in groundbreaking lawsuit
- Lawyers say Holcim, world’s biggest cement firm, does not work in Pari but ‘accounts for 0.4 per cent of global carbon emissions in 100 years’
While floods and street puddles were already regular features close to the beach, 2019 was the first time seawater forcefully entered residential areas.
“We have been hit several times by tidal floods but 2019 was by far the largest we ever had,” said Edy, whose house – in which he grew up – is 50 metres from the shore.
The 37-year-old fisherman said seawater never got into his home when he was a child, but three years ago “the floods were so bad” that it did. Groundwater was also affected, Edy said, with water in village wells “contaminated with salty seawater”.
The increased frequency and severity of tidal floods on the 43-hectare (106-acre) island have prompted Edy and three other residents to embark on legal action against a massive multinational firm with operations in 70 countries – but not in Pari – and its headquarters in Switzerland, 11,000km (6800 miles) away.
If they succeed, it will also be the first time a Swiss company is held legally accountable for its planet-heating role, according to a statement from Swiss Church Aid HEKS/EPER, which campaigns for a fairer world.
It is supporting the Pari Island plaintiffs, as are the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and Indonesian environmental organisation Walhi.
“We think this is a good move to demand responsibilities from developed countries, as well as companies, that contributed heavily to global CO2 emissions,” said Dewi Puspa, head of the environmental studies and law division at Walhi.
“The industrial activities of the companies that release a huge amount of carbon emissions cause an extraordinary impact to the population, particularly those who live in coastal areas and small islands. We want people to realise that they have the right [to demand for justice].”
Fewer fish, less money
On Pari Island – part of The Thousand Islands, a chain north of Jakarta’s coast – climate change has contributed to dwindling fish numbers.
“In the 1990s, the majority of people here were fishermen or seaweed farmers. At that time, we could still predict the weather and our earnings were good enough to meet our daily needs,” said Edy, a father of three.
Fishermen knew the October-May period as monsoon season, when “the weather was quite extreme but fish were abundant”, Edy added.
In their heyday, Edy and his team of four or five could earn up to 250,000 rupiah (US$16) per day between them, from the likes of mackerel, grouper and baby tuna. “It was huge for us in the 1990s,” Edy said.
But from the 2000s, “we could no longer predict nature. Now, there should be a dry season, but we are experiencing monsoon”. He said the fishing sector had been unable to thrive or expand as catches were “only enough to feed us” so most people “pivoted to tourism”.
However, that source of cash is not safe from the impact of climate change either, as tidal floods have spooked holidaymakers.
These days, Edy still fishes but also runs a tour boat and two-room homestay and hires out snorkelling gear. He said that during the 2019 floods, “many guests cancelled their bookings as they feared the rising seawater, and every year we see tidal floods getting higher and higher”.
‘Little compensation’ but reluctant to talk
There has been little legal action so far against the cement industry, although it is very polluting. In their lawsuit, the four plaintiffs have demanded Holcim pay around US$3,600 to each of them to compensate for damage caused by climate change.
They say the money will also help fund flood protection measures, including planting mangroves, building homes on higher ground and improving desalination infrastructure to ensure fresh water supplies, said ECCHR legal director Miriam Saage-Maasz.
Holcim has also been asked to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by more than it has already pledged, she said, by 43 per cent in 2030 and 69 per cent by 2040.
The company previously promised to cut its so-called Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 90 per cent by 2050, compared to emissions released in 2020. Scope 3 covers emissions not produced by Holcim itself but by those it is indirectly responsible for, including emissions via its value chain.
Cement is a very CO2-intensive industry and [Holcim] accounts for 0.4 per cent of global carbon emissions over the last 100 years
While the firm does not carry out activities on Pari Island, “cement is a very CO2-intensive industry and this individual company accounts for 0.4 per cent of global carbon emissions over the last 100 years. And that is the responsibility it bears, and that is why we go against Holcim”, added Saage-Maasz.
Holcim sold its business in Indonesia – including four cement factories and 33 concrete plants – to state-owned cement producer Semen Indonesia in 2018 for US$917 million.
Research by the Climate Accountability Institute found that Holcim – the world’s largest cement maker following a 2015 merger with French firm Lafarge – released more than 7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide between 1950 and 2021.
The money the plaintiffs have asked for is just 0.42 per cent of the actual cost of the damage caused to their island by climate change, Saage-Maasz said, adding that despite the “super little money” being asked for, Holcim was “still very reluctant to get engaged in any of the discussions around this”.
Asked why the legal action was directed at Holcim, Saage-Maasz said the plaintiffs and their supporters wanted to show that other industries, aside from oil and gas, are also responsible for climate change.
“The choice is, to some extent, arbitrary. You could go against oil or mining companies, they are also CO2 intensive. But there have been many claims already against Total, Shell, or Chevron,” Saage-Maasz said.
“The point was to say it’s not only the gas and oil industry or mining companies that are responsible for CO2 emissions and climate change in the historic perspective, but also other industries.”
“We significantly reduced our footprint over the last decade and will cut it further by 2030,” the firm said. “We are focused on supporting our customers to build more with less to improve living standards for all while reducing emissions.”
Adapting to climate change
The islanders’ struggle to adapt to rising sea levels also underlines the Indonesian government’s lack of attention to coastal communities, said Dewi Puspa of Walhi. Its actions were “minimal”, she said, with the government’s plan more focused on “climate change mitigation” but with “no policy related to climate change adaptation plans”.
While Indonesia ratified the Paris agreement to limit global warming in 2016, the government still needs to codify it into local law to enable the population to adapt to climate change, Dewi added.
Back in Pari, Edy said the Jakarta government had provided two desalination units but these were not enough for all residents. At times, they have to “queue and wait” to use it to turn polluted groundwater into drinkable water.
With their own money, and donations from environmental organisations, islanders have planted mangroves and rebuilt some homes higher up.
Edy’s biggest concern now is that the next generation, including his own children, will “lose the island” due to rising sea levels.
“We have been taught since we were little to be fishermen,” he said. “It is impossible for us to move to Jakarta and live in the city; we cannot just abandon the sea, which is part of our lives”.
