Hyundai announces withdrawal from agreement to procure aluminum powered by new coal power plant in Indonesia
Hyundai Motor Company has announced its withdrawal from its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to purchase aluminum from a new 1.1GW coal power plant-powered smelter in North Kalimantan, Indonesia, with Adaro Minerals, a subsidiary of Adaro, the second largest coal mining company in the country.
The production of Adaro’s aluminum is powered by coal from a newly constructed coal power plant, despite the smelter being part of a so-called ‘green industrial park’ in Kalimantan, Indonesia. The coal plant would emit an estimated 5.2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, according to Market Forces, a climate activist group focused on engaging investors.
Following years of advocacy from climate activists, notably spearheaded by the fan-driven climate platform Kpop4Planet’s “Hyundai, Drop Coal” campaign initiated in March 2023, significant progress has been made. Over 11,000 passionate K-pop enthusiasts have signed a petition urging Hyundai to withdraw from existing agreements and transition to sourcing materials derived from renewable energy for their Indonesian car production operations.
In response to the announcement, Matthew Groch, Senior Director for heavy industry decarbonization at Mighty Earth said: “We are pleased to see that, after more than a year of pressure from climate activists across the globe, Hyundai has finally decided to do the right thing and drop this climate-destroying agreement with Adaro Minerals that the company was trying to greenwash as being for “low-carbon” aluminum. Dropping the deal shows that Hyundai recognizes that dirty coal has no place in the supply chains of electric vehicles. Hyundai must now take comprehensive action to swiftly eliminate other sources of coal from its supply chain, such as the steel from the coal-fired blast furnaces in South Korea that are causing hundreds of premature deaths each year – an issue that Hyundai has so far failed to address.”‘
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To delve deeper, read this story in Reuters here: Hyundai Motor ends Indonesia aluminium deal after climate campaign by K-pop fans
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