Adaro's toxic bonds

Adaro is promoting its plans to build a “green” aluminum, when in reality it will construct a 1.1 GW coal-fired power plant to provide electricity to the smelter. This project, built on the edges of a pristine rainforest and a protected coastal zone, will wreck the conservation and migration routes of critically-endangered hawksbill turtles and killer whales. Coal fly ash from the power plant will smother villages and their fields, and the elaborate coal shipping network will ruin traditional fisher livelihoods by driving fish away.

Adaro’s matrix of lies and links to coal stretch far beyond North Kalimantan. In South Kalimantan, Adaro’s mining activities have turned the thriving village of Wonorejo into a complex of coal-settling ponds. Fewer than 8 families remain in the now ghost village.

Adaro aims to refinance a $750 million bond that is maturing in October 2024.

It wants us to believe that these profits will be channelled towards renewables-based growth. But this trickle-down promise is pure deception: Adaro’s net-zero emissions statement offers neither intent nor indication of a credible transition.

Investors and banks must see through Adaro’s web of lies and take their fiduciary responsibility seriously.