Green Nickel Transformation Strengthens Indonesia’s Position in Critical Minerals
Sun 23 Nov 2025, 04:25 AM
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At the COP30 World Climate Change Conference, MIND ID Group emphasized that the future of Indonesia’s nickel industry can only be sustainable if it is built on a green foundation and low-carbon technology. PT Vale Indonesia Tbk, a member of MIND ID, stated that the shift toward green nickel is essential for Indonesia to strengthen its position as a global player in critical minerals amid the energy transition.
In a COP30 panel discussion, PT Vale Indonesia Tbk’s Director and Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer, Budi Awansyah, emphasized that Indonesia’s contribution to the global climate agenda cannot be measured merely by the size of its critical mineral reserves. What matters more is how the nickel industry is managed with environmental and sustainability standards capable of meeting global expectations.
Budi noted that Indonesia holds more than 40 percent of the world’s nickel reserves, making it a strategic hub in the supply chain for electric vehicles and batteries. However, he believes public perceptions of the mining sector are still colored by concerns over landscape changes and pressure on forests. Therefore, transforming into a green industry must be a consistent and measurable priority.
Addressing COP30 participants, Budi underscored that smelters are among the largest emitters in the extractive industry. Consequently, if Indonesia wants to lead the global critical-minerals ecosystem, the national nickel industry must first demonstrate leadership through low-carbon operations, energy efficiency, and tighter governance.
According to Budi, PT Vale Indonesia Tbk has implemented a range of decarbonization measures—using clean energy such as hydropower, improving smelter efficiency, optimizing waste-heat recovery, and utilizing CO gas and hydrogen in production processes.
In addition, Vale has recorded tangible environmental performance: water use of 8,498.94 megaliters with an intensity of 0.12 megaliters per ton of nickel; and the reuse of 510 m³ of recycled water at the Lamella Gravity Settler facility as a feedstock for ferrous sulfate solution.
On waste management, the company has repurposed 1,453 tons of hazardous (B3) waste and 377,964 tons of non-hazardous nickel slag into construction materials and mine-road surfacing. For this consistency, Vale received the PROPER Gold award from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, making it the only integrated nickel mining company to earn the highest distinction in 2024.
“Achievements such as recycled-water utilization, responsible waste management, and the PROPER Gold award prove that a low-carbon transformation is not just rhetoric but already a real practice in the field,” Budi said.
In his presentation, Budi also highlighted Vale’s sustainability score declining to 23.7, the lowest in the history of global smelter operations. According to him, this shows that the low-carbon transformation is not mere rhetoric but has been applied concretely in the company’s operations.
These achievements, he continued, align with MIND ID’s vision to make Indonesia a regional leader in a globally competitive green-nickel industry.
Through the COP30 forum, the MIND ID Group reiterated that Indonesia’s strength in critical minerals lies not only in resource availability but also in its ability to build supply chains that meet international standards and align with the Net Zero Emission target and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
With the momentum of COP30, MIND ID affirmed that Indonesia is ready to take a bigger step—not just as a nation rich in strategic minerals, but as one committed to leading the global critical minerals market through low-carbon technology, sustainable operations, and a more deeply integrated green-nickel ecosystem.
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