Green Growth, Dirty Justice: How Indonesia’s Climate Policies Reproduce Social Inequality
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65815/hg5sxh87Keywords:
Climate justice, green growth, inequality, climate governance, IndonesiaAbstract
Indonesia’s climate agenda has increasingly embraced the language of green growth, positioning environmental sustainability as compatible with economic expansion. While this framing dominates policy discourse, its social implications receive limited critical attention. This paper examines how green growth-oriented climate policies shape patterns of inequality within Indonesia’s climate governance. Through qualitative analysis of policy documents and climate-related programs, the study traces how mitigation and adaptation initiatives redistribute environmental risks and economic benefits. The analysis suggests that climate interventions frequently prioritize investment certainty and technological solutions, while the experiences and capacities of marginalized communities remain peripheral. Rather than reducing vulnerability, such approaches may entrench existing social hierarchies. By reading climate policies through a justice-oriented lens, the paper highlights tensions between environmental ambition and social outcomes. The discussion underscores how technocratic climate governance can obscure questions of power, participation, and responsibility. These findings invite reconsideration of green growth narratives that assume alignment between sustainability and equity. The paper concludes by reflecting on the implications of justice-blind climate action for the legitimacy and durability of Indonesia’s climate strategies.
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