Annual Report
CRI-branded impact report: year in numbers, evidence, voices, accountability asks.
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A human rights emergency
There is now a broad consensus that climate change is the planet's greatest existential challenge. It is also a human rights emergency — and the transition away from fossil fuels is producing its own pattern of harm where minerals are mined, smelted and shipped. Our work follows that harm to the people living with it: fishers who can no longer fish, farmers whose land was taken, workers breathing coal smoke, and Indigenous communities whose forests are being cut for the batteries of cars sold in Europe and North America.
The year in numbers
Source: CRI, “Nickel Unearthed: The Human and Climate Costs of Indonesia's Nickel Industry”, January 2024.
5,331 hectares — tropical forest cut inside nickel mining concessions on Halmahera (CRI / UC Berkeley AI Climate Initiative analysis). 2.04 million metric tons CO2e — greenhouse gases released by that clearing. 45,065 hectares — the size of the Weda Bay Nickel concession as of 2023. 5 built, 12 planned — captive coal-fired power plants at the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park, an estimated 3.78 GW per year, more coal than Spain or Brazil burns in a year. 48% — share of global nickel demand supplied by Indonesia in 2022. 45 interviews — people we spoke with for Nickel Unearthed, a 124-page investigation published in January 2024.
Halmahera: what the satellites show
The Weda Bay Nickel concession covers 45,065 hectares of Halmahera, in Indonesia's North Maluku province. More than 35,000 hectares of nickel concession area on the island sit inside legally Protected Forest. Satellite analysis conducted with UC Berkeley's AI Climate Initiative documented at least 5,331 hectares cleared inside mining concessions — roughly 2.04 million metric tons of CO2e. In one case, 140 hectares of Kao Rahai customary forest were cleared, affecting Indigenous Tobelo communities. Some 300 to 500 O'Hongana Manyawa, living in around 30 clans, depend on these forests. CRI did not attempt to contact them, out of respect for their isolation.
“Before the mining, the fish stock was abundant, the sea was clear. Now, I can't catch fish near [IWIP]. The water is dirty, and the security chases us away.”
Max Sigoro, 51, Sawai fisherman, Gemaf village — interviewed for Nickel Unearthed
“The local residents here bear the cost for global ambition. Western people enjoy the electric vehicle, and meanwhile we get the negative impact.”
Adlun Fikri, 29, Sawai activist from Sagea
Who we held to account
The Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park is a joint venture of Tsingshan Holding Group, Huayou Cobalt and Zhenshi Holding Group. Eramet and BASF announced plans for the Sonic Bay refining facility — 67,000 tons of nickel and 7,500 tons of cobalt a year. POSCO announced a $441 million plant inside IWIP with capacity for 52,000 metric tons of refined nickel, enough for roughly one million electric vehicles. We asked the automakers buying that nickel — Tesla, Ford and Volkswagen — to show that the metal in their vehicles is not driving human rights and environmental abuses.
Beyond Indonesia
Full report library: cri.org/reports
Ongoing Harms, Limited Accountability (June 2025) and Does Anyone Care? (October 2025) returned to the Indonesian nickel industry. Broken Promises (November 2025) documented nickel mining harms in the Philippines. Before It's Too Late and Chainsaws, Smoke, and Silence (October 2025) addressed cattle-driven deforestation and violence against community conservation areas in Brazil, followed in July 2026 by our analysis of what new EU laws mean for beef and leather. My Body Is Burning (July 2025, Bangladesh) and They Don't See What Heat Does to Our Bodies (December 2025, Karachi) documented extreme heat and labour rights in the garment industry.
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