WALHI and Trend Asia v. Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Republic of Indonesia (Lawsuit against The National Electricity Plan)

In September 2025, two Indonesian environmental NGOs — Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (WALHI) and Yayasan Trend Asia — filed an administrative lawsuit at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN Jakarta) against the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia. The case challenges Ministerial Decree No. 85.K/TL.01/MEM.L/2025, the National Electricity General Plan (Rencana Umum Ketenagalistrikan Nasional / RUKN), issued on March 2025, spanning over the period of 2025-2060. The plaintiffs alleged that the National Electricity Plan 2025-2060 was unlawful on several procedural grounds. First, the National Electricity Plan was issued without a valid National Energy Policy (Kebijakan Energi Nasional) regulation, in which the Energy and Electricity Law mandated the National Energy Policy as the key reference for all energy sector planning documents, including the national electricity plan. The applicable National Energy Policy (Government Regulation No. 79 of 2014) was not referenced; instead the decree relied on a still-unratified draft of the National Energy Policy that was later enacted 6 months after the National Electricity Plan was formalized in September 2025. Second, the National Electricity Plan 2025-2060 was issued without a mandatory Strategic Environmental Assessment (KLHS) as required by the law that every planning document has to conduct SEA; and Third, the National Electricity Plan was issued without involving regional governments; at least three provinces (North Maluku, Bali, and Southeast Sulawesi) confirmed they were never consulted. Substantively, the plaintiffs argued that the National Electricity Plan does not include a coal retirement roadmap, directly contradicting legal mandates required by the Long-Term Development Plan 2025-2045 and Presidential Regulation No. 112 of 2022. Instead, the plan includes projection to extend all coal plants through co-firing, CCS retrofitting, and fuel switching to ammonia or hydrogen. Furthermore, plaintiffs also asserted that the Plan includes energy options that are prohibitively expensive and technologically unproven, including a 35 GW nuclear expansion, in violation of the Energy Law that requires the Electricity Plan to optimize all energy sources and consider the most cost-effective projection. In addition, the National Electricity Plan is inconsistent with Indonesia's Paris Agreement obligations, projecting a GHG peak in 2037 rather than by 2030, and relying on faulty emissions assumptions that could result in warming exceeding 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels; The plaintiffs argued that the Plan violates constitutionally protected human rights including the right to health, the right to life, the right to welfare, and the right to meaningful public participation. The plaintiffs ask the court to declare the RUKN 2025 null and void, order the Minister to revoke it, and order the Minister to issue a new, lawful RUKN that complies with applicable regulations and the principles of good governance.