Indonesians fight a German cement giant over a mine and factory project
[July 03, 2026] By
EDNA TARIGAN and ANTON L. DELGADO
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesians are trying to stop a major German
cement producer from building a mine and factory under a unique supply
chain law that adds to a growing number of cases legal experts say may
influence European businesses in Asia.
Critics say Heidelberg Materials, one of the world’s largest cement
companies, failed to properly assess and mitigate the potential harms of
its plans to create a limestone mine and cement factory in Central
Java’s Kendeng Mountains. They say the project may damage a rare karst
ecosystem and harm the livelihoods of Indigenous people in the area.
“If the project is implemented, we face an ecological catastrophe,
impoverishment, and violations of our human rights,” said Bambang
Sutikyo, one of the complainants.
Katharina Plonsker, the senior sustainability communication manager for
Heidelberg Materials, said affected communities had the opportunity to
voice concerns to the company's local subsidiary PT Indocement Tunggal
Prakarsa during the project's permitting process. Feedback from this
exchange was reflected in the project planning.
So far, “no decision on the implementation of the project has been
taken,” she said.
The complaint to the German Federal Office for Economic Affairs and
Export Control against Heidelberg Materials and Indocement is
Indonesia's first to employ Germany's supply chain law, which is
designed to ensure that human rights are respected throughout the supply
chains of big companies.
Some other European Union nations are preparing to implement similar
regulations, learning from Germany as they draft their own versions of
the law, said Annabell Brüggemann with the Berlin-based European Center
for Constitutional and Human Rights. So, “complaints filed at this
moment are quite significant," she said.
In similar cases, plaintiffs in Cambodia, Pakistan, the Philippines and
elsewhere in Indonesia are taking other major European firms — like the
apparel company Adidas and energy giant Shell — to court.
This adds to financial risks for European companies that may have
invested in Asia to take advantage of less stringent regulations,
according to Jameela Joy Reyes with the London-based Grantham Research
Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
“The transboundary harm element of these cases is quite interesting, and
we might be seeing that more in the future," she said.
Indonesians take German cement giant to court
The complaint by 10 people backed by local and international
non-profits, like Inclusive Development and Watch Indonesia, alleges
that Heidelberg Materials did not fully assess the potential harm to the
affected area in Central Java's Kendeng Mountains, a major natural
carbon sink and underground reservoir.
Other mining plans in Kendeng have long drawn resistance.
"It’s not just the environmental impact, the loss of land taken by the
cement industry will result in our brothers and sisters having no land
left," said Gunretno, one of the plaintiffs. He belongs to the
Indigenous agricultural community, the Samin, also known as the Sedulur
Sikep. Like many Indonesians, he uses only one name.
Climate cases increase in Asia
Globally, there were at least 226 lawsuits over climate issues filed in
2024, according to the Grantham Research Institute, which tracks nearly
3,000 cases across 60 countries.
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A farmer stands on a corm field as a cement factory seen in the
background in Kendeng Mountains in Rembang, Central Java, Indonesia,
Friday, June 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Ibrahim AS)
 “When it comes to environmental
destruction of any kind, we, as global citizens, have a
responsibility to figure out how we can work together to protect our
one and only Earth,” Gunretno said.
Syamsuddin Arief, a lawyer with the Semarang Legal Aid Institute,
which supports the Samin, hopes the complaint will “achieve the
shared goal of upholding citizens’ rights to a sustainable life, a
healthy and good environment, and ensuring the sustainability of the
Kendeng Mountains.”
Four fisher people from Indonesia’s Pari Island filed a legal
complaint in 2023 against the Swiss construction company Holcim,
which refutes their assertion that its climate change-causing
emissions threaten their homes and livelihoods.
Holcim said it plans to appeal a Swiss court's decision to hear the
case. If it proceeds, this would be one of the first climate
litigation cases against a Swiss corporation.
Nearly 70 survivors of a 2021 super typhoon Rai in the Philippines
used a similar argument in a complaint filed last year against
Shell. The plaintiffs say the company's historic emissions made the
disaster worse and are seeking compensation for deaths and damages.
Shell says it's not legally liable.
Around 40 farmers in Pakistan also filed a legal complaint against
Heidelberg Materials and German energy giant RWE last year. They
likewise contend that those companies' emissions worsened climate
change, intensifying devastating 2022 floods, the worst in
Pakistan's history at the time.
This move was inspired by a parallel case from Peru against RWE.
“All of these factors are coming into play in this bigger
conversation about reparations and what this might mean for those in
the Global South, whose land and whose resources many of these
corporations have been profiting off of,” said Reyes at the
institute.
Initial cases may influence EU laws
Germany’s supply chain law has changed how communities in affected
environments around the world can counter corporate activity, said
Laurie Parsons of the Royal Holloway, University of London and
author of “Carbon Colonialism.”
“It also changed the mindsets of companies and governments about
what’s possible,” he said.
With regulations similar to Germany's expected across the 27-nation
EU by 2028, more cases are inevitable, said Brüggemann with the
ECCHR.
The Indonesian cement project case “shows how strong the movement is
for corporate accountability and how big the need is for regulation
of the globalized economy,” she said.
___
Delgado reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writer Sam McNeil in
Brussels contributed to this report.
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