Contrarius Series: Law & Social Justice
Vol. 1 No. 2 (2026): Contrarius Series: Law & Social Justice

Integrating Sustainability into Indonesia’s Mining Regulation: A Normative Assessment of Downstreaming, Reclamation, and ESG Policies




Article Info

Publish Date
10 Mar 2026

Abstract

The growth of the mining sector in Indonesia has contributed significantly to national economic development, but it has also imposed serious environmental externalities. In response, the central government has enacted policies such as downstreaming mandates, post-mining reclamation requirements, and the promotion of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles to promote green mining. This study evaluates the extent to which these policies embed sustainability principles and provide legitimate environmental protection in the mining sector. Using normative legal research, we analyze mining, environmental, and green mining regulations, supported by qualitative examination of policy implementation reports. We find that although sustainability dimensions are formally incorporated, policy execution faces major constraints: (1) downstreaming focuses heavily on economic interests with insufficient environmental controls, (2) reclamation obligations are often weakly supervised, and (3) ESG implementation remains voluntary, reducing legal certainty. We recommend stronger binding ESG regulation, integration of downstream policy with environmental instruments, and establishment of transparent oversight.

Copyrights © 2026






Journal Info

Abbrev

LSJCP

Publisher

Subject

Education Energy Environmental Science Health Professions Law, Crime, Criminology & Criminal Justice Public Health Social Sciences

Description

Contrarius Series: Law & Social Justice is an Proceedings Open Access publication series dedicated to archiving conference proceedings in all areas related to Law, Crime, Environment, Energy, Education, Economic, Tourism and Social Justice. The Contrarius Series: Law & Social Justice covers the ...