HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Indonesia’s coal industry is facing mounting pressure and should diversify as China and India, its biggest customers, cut back on imports of the heavily polluting fossil fuel, according to a report from a Jakarta-based energy thinktank, Energy Shift.
The report released Tuesday says that the industry, which accounts for about 3.6% of Indonesia's economic activity and employs tens of thousands of people, needs to shift toward cleaner energy now or risk being forced into a costly transition later.
Indonesia is the world’s biggest exporter of coal, which is central to its economy, generating tax revenues and jobs. So the expected long-term decline in demand presents a unique challenge for the country of some 280 million. Indonesia’s coal production is still rising, hitting a record 836 million tons in 2024, nearly 8% more than the year before.
The industry also relies heavily on just a few buyers, with China and India buying nearly two-thirds of Indonesia's coal exports in 2023.
China still relies on coal for more than half its electricity generation. It accounted for 41% of global coal imports in 2024, or nearly 543 million tons. But more than 75% of the growth in demand last year was met by clean energy.
India’s coal imports fell 8.4% to 183.42 million metric tons from April to December 2024, down from 200.19 million metric tons in the same period a year earlier, government data shows. The drop is part of India’s push to reduce import dependence by ramping up domestic coal production. Imports for industries like cement, steel and aluminum that buy coal at market rates declined 12% while imports for thermal power plants fell even more sharply, down 29.8%.
Indonesia's coal exports fell to a three-year low in January-April of this year, a shift that may signal a longer term decline, experts say.
“These are signs that Indonesian coal miners have to start taking seriously as well,” said Hazel Ilango of the Energy Shift Institute.
There are other risks too. Most Indonesian coal companies are tightly controlled by insiders — owners, executives, and board members — who hold about 75% of company shares on average, according to the report. Regulations such as domestic supply rules and high royalties also limit profits, while access to global financing remains restricted.
The private sector and investors are generally uninterested in long-term transition plans and are more focused on immediate profits, while government policies remain inconsistent, said Putra Adhiguna of the Energy Shift Institute.
Experts say that the country’s coal policy is riddled with contradictions. It has pledged to cut emissions and transition to clean energy, but it continues to expand coal production and approve new plants. Domestic subsidies keep coal cheap, but abrupt export bans have disrupted global markets. Meanwhile, the state utility plans to retire coal plants early under a $20 billion transition deal — even as new ones tied to the industry are still being built.
As major coal importers like China and India cut imports to boost their energy security, Indonesia’s coal sector needs to plan ahead, said Jordan Lee, an energy transition expert at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change in Jakarta.
“The reason I say that is basically if you look at what happened with some big oil companies that have tried something similar, we have seen the market not respond too positively,” he said.
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FILE - Women sit on a hill overlooking the Suralaya coal power plant in Cilegon, Indonesia, Jan. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Ahn Sung-ki, one of South Korean cinema’s biggest stars whose prolific 60-year career and positive, gentle public image earned him the nickname “The Nation’s Actor,” died Monday. He was 74.
Ahn, who had suffered blood cancer for years, was pronounced dead at Seoul's Soonchunhyang University Hospital, his agency, the Artist Company, and hospital officials said.
“We feel deep sorrow at the sudden, sad news, pray for the eternal rest of the deceased and offer our heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family members," the Artist Company said in a statement.
President Lee Jae Myung issued a condolence message saying Ahn provided many people with comfort, joy and time for reflection. “I already miss his warm smile and gentle voice,” Lee wrote on Facebook.
Born to a filmmaker in the southeastern city of Daegu in 1952, Ahn made his debut as a child actor in the movie “The Twilight Train” in 1957. He subsequently appeared in about 70 movies as a child actor before he left the film industry to live an ordinary life.
In 1970, Ahn entered Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies as a Vietnamese major. Ahn said he graduated with top honors but failed to land jobs at big companies, who likely saw his Vietnamese major largely useless after a communist victory in the Vietnam War in 1975.
Ahn returned to the film industry in 1977 believing he could still excel in acting. In 1980, he rose to fame for his lead role in Lee Jang-ho’s “Good, Windy Days,” a hit coming-of-age movie about the struggle of working-class men from rural areas during the country’s rapid rise. Ahn won the best new actor award in the prestigious Grand Bell Awards, the Korean version of the Academy Awards.
He later starred in a series of highly successful and critically acclaimed movies, sweeping best actor awards and becoming arguably the country’s most popular actor in much of the 1980-90s.
Some of his memorable roles included a Buddhist monk in 1981’s “Mandara,” a beggar in 1984’s “Whale Hunting,” a Vietnam War veteran-turned-novelist in 1992’s “White Badge,” a corrupt police officer in 1993’s “Two Cops,” a murderer in 1999’s “No Where To Hide,” a special forces trainer in 2003’s “Silmido” and a devoted celebrity manager in 2006’s “Radio Star.”
Ahn had collected dozens of trophies in major movie awards in South Korea, including winning the Grand Bell Awards for best actor five times, an achievement no other South Korean actors have matched yet.
Ahn built up an image as a humble, trustworthy and family-oriented celebrity who avoided major scandals and maintained a quiet, stable personal life. Past public surveys chose Ahn as South Korea’s most beloved actor and deserving of the nickname “The Nation’s Actor.”
Ahn said he earlier felt confined with his “The Nation's Actor” labeling but eventually thought that led him down the right path. In recent years, local media has given other stars similar honorable nicknames, but Ahn was apparently the first South Korean actor who was dubbed “The Nation's Actor.”
“I felt I should do something that could match that title. But I think that has eventually guided me on a good direction,” Ahn said in an interview with Yonhap news agency in 2023.
In media interviews, Ahn couldn’t choose what his favorite movie was, but said that his role as a dedicated, hardworking manger for a washed-up rock singer played by Park Jung-hoon resembled himself in real life the most.
Ahn was also known for his reluctance to do love scenes. He said said he was too shy to act romantic scenes and sometimes asked directors to skip steamy scenes if they were only meant to add spice to movies.
“I don’t do well on acting like looking at someone who I don’t love with loving eyes and kissing really romantically. I feel shy and can’t express such emotions well,” Ahn said in an interview with the Shindonga magazine in 2007. “Simply, I’m clumsy on that. So I couldn’t star in such movies a lot. But ultimately, that was a right choice for me.”
Ahn is survived by his wife and their two sons. A mourning station at a Seoul hospital was to run until Friday.
FILE - South Korean actor Ahn Sung-ki smiles for a photo on the red carpet at the 56th Daejong Film Awards ceremony in Seoul, South Korea, June 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)
FILE - South Korean actor Ahn Sung-ki attends an event as part of the 11th Pusan International Film Festival in Busan, South Korea, Oct. 13, 2006. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
