July 13, 2026
JAKARTA – Environmental activists have pushed the government to follow an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to guide Indonesia’s climate laws toward protecting vulnerable communities, rather than prioritizing investments for the carbon market.
Issued in July 2025, the advisory opinion is a landmark, nonbinding opinion from the court judges outlining states’ obligations under international law to address the climate crisis, protect the environment and safeguard the rights of present and future generations.
The bench also said limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius should be considered the “primary temperature goal” for nations, which are obliged to make “adequate contributions” to the mission.
Indonesia has supported the process since before the issuance of the opinion.
The country was among cosponsors of a 2023 United Nations resolution spearheaded by Vanuatu to request an advisory opinion from the world’s top court on the obligations of states in regard to the climate crisis. Indonesia was also among the supporters of a resolution passed in May that backed the ICJ’s landmark opinion.
Despite such a position in the UN top forum, environmental group Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) warned the opinion would have little practical impact without stronger political commitment from the government.
Indonesia climate policies, including a climate change bill currently deliberated at the House of Representatives, disproportionately emphasize market-based mechanisms such as carbon trading, rather than protecting communities most affected by the crisis, according to Walhi legal advocacy manager Christine Constanta.
“Indonesia should not focus solely on investment and carbon trading,” Christine said during a discussion hosted by Walhi in Jakarta on Tuesday. “It needs to make a genuine commitment to climate justice.”
She added that the ICJ’s opinion has offered a comprehensive framework that emphasizes climate justice. But because of its nonbinding nature, the opinion’s implementation at the national level will depend on political commitment from policymakers, Christine went on to say.
The climate change bill is included in the House’s National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) priority bill for this year.
But the draft law has not entered into formal deliberation with the government after its harmonization process at the House Legislation Body (Baleg) was suspended earlier this year.
According to Baleg, some of the bill’s provisions overlap with the 2009 Environmental Protection and Management Law, prompting lawmakers to consider whether the law should be merged into a new law incorporating all climate aspects.
Environmental activists have been opposing the move to merge the laws, arguing it would create a law covering wider aspects with an unclear focus.
Unfair burdens
Despite being among the top 10 largest greenhouse gas emission producers in the world, Indonesia has relatively low per capita emissions compared to other countries
Such a figure suggests planet-heating emissions are concentrated in carbon-intensive industries, while poor communities that contribute little to the problem often bear the worst impact of the crisis, said law lecturer Prischa Listiningrum at Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java.
“Without serious [climate] adaptation efforts from the government, people will continue to bear the brunt of the climate crisis,” Prischa said in Tuesday’s discussion. “Failing to protect them amounts to a violation of their rights to an adequate livelihood and a healthy environment.”
The deadly floods and landslides triggered by Tropical Cyclone Senyar that hit northern Sumatra in late 2025 exposed “weaknesses in early warning systems”, with Prischa urging the government to strengthen climate adaptation efforts and disaster preparedness in line with the ICJ opinion.
Rabin Daniel Nainggolan of the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL) concurred, pushing the government to adopt the ICJ opinion as a guiding framework to include climate mitigation and adaptation as well as protection for indigenous people, women and other vulnerable communities as the foundation of Indonesia’s climate governance.
The Jakarta Post reached out to the Environment Ministry and members of House Commission XII overseeing energy and environmental affairs but had received no response at the time of publication.