GOING electric is commonly seen as an important step in the switch to clean energy. But some environmentalists worry that South-east Asia’s clean energy transition is lagging behind the pace of electric vehicle (EV) development, while the region’s nickel mining industry may even exacerbate environmental problems.

Nickel is a key component of the batteries used in EVs, and Indonesia and the Philippines are respectively the world’s biggest and second biggest nickel producers, with the former producing 37 per cent of the world’s nickel. Over the last 3 years, the environmental impact of Indonesia’s nickel mining industry has stirred increasing concern among related organisations.

Early this year, the Action for Ecology and People’s Emancipation (AEER) non-governmental organisation issued a report highlighting the pollution caused by nickel mining in Indonesia’s Obi Islands – the archipelago’s source of drinking water was found to contain the carcinogen hexavalent chromium. In 2019, violent demonstrations against the nickel industry broke out in Kendari, the capital of South-east Sulawesi.