Nithin Coca: Indonesian Coal Crisis

We often associate coal consumption with China and India, countries that have indeed invested heavily into the harmful fuel but flying under the radar is Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation which in the past two decades has become one of the world’s leading exporters and consumers of coal. This week on Sea Change Radio, we speak to global journalist Nithin Coca who has written a series of pieces for Mongabay.com about Indonesia’s alarming headfirst dive into the coal industry. We discuss the high-level corruption that allowed coal to take off in Indonesia, examine the lax regulatory standards that imperil workers while allowing the country to keep export prices low and learn about the environmental degradation that the Indonesian coal boom is causing.