Indonesian communities take on German cement giant under landmark supply chain law
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A group of Indonesian residents is challenging a major German cement producer’s plan to build a limestone mine and cement factory in Central Java, invoking a novel German supply chain law that legal experts say could reshape how European companies do business across Asia.
The complaint, filed with Germany’s Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control, targets Heidelberg Materials and its local subsidiary PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa. It marks the first time Indonesia has seen a case brought under Germany’s Supply Chain Due Diligence Act, which requires large companies to identify and mitigate human rights and environmental risks throughout their supply chains.
Opponents argue that Heidelberg Materials failed to properly assess the potential damage from the project in the Kendeng Mountains, a rare karst ecosystem that serves as a major carbon sink and underground water reservoir. They warn that mining and cement production could destroy farmland, threaten Indigenous livelihoods, and trigger an ecological crisis.
“If the project is implemented, we face an ecological catastrophe, impoverishment, and violations of our human rights,” said Bambang Sutikyo, one of the complainants.
Heidelberg Materials’ senior sustainability communications manager, Katharina Plonsker, said affected communities had opportunities to voice concerns during the permitting process and that feedback was reflected in project planning. She added that “no decision on the implementation of the project has been taken.”
The case is part of a growing trend. Similar complaints have been filed against other European firms, including Adidas, Shell, and RWE, in Cambodia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and elsewhere in Indonesia. These cases signal rising financial and legal risks for European companies that may have invested in Asia expecting weaker oversight, according to Jameela Joy Reyes of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment in London.
“The transboundary harm element of these cases is quite interesting, and we might be seeing that more in the future,” she said.
Germany’s law, which took effect in 2023, has already changed how communities in the Global South can push back against corporate activities. By requiring companies to conduct human rights and environmental due diligence, it opens a legal avenue for affected populations that previously had little recourse. Similar legislation is expected across the European Union by 2028, which could drive even more litigation.
Annabell Brüggemann of the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights said complaints filed now are “quite significant” because they set precedents for how such laws can be applied extraterritorially. “It shows how strong the movement is for corporate accountability and how big the need is for regulation of the globalized economy,” she said.
The 10 complainants in the Indonesian case are supported by local and international nonprofits, including Inclusive Development and Watch Indonesia. They argue that Heidelberg Materials did not fully assess the harm to the Kendeng Mountains, which have long been a site of resistance against mining plans.
“It's not just the environmental impact,” said Gunretno, a plaintiff from the Indigenous Samin community, also known as Sedulur Sikep. “The loss of land taken by the cement industry will result in our brothers and sisters having no land left.” He added, “When it comes to environmental destruction of any kind, we, as global citizens, have a responsibility to figure out how we can work together to protect our one and only Earth.”
Syamsuddin Arief, a lawyer with the Semarang Legal Aid Institute supporting the Samin community, said he hopes the complaint will “achieve the shared goal of upholding citizens' rights to a sustainable life, a healthy and good environment, and ensuring the sustainability of the Kendeng Mountains.”
The case comes amid a global surge in climate litigation. According to the Grantham Research Institute, at least 226 climate-related lawsuits were filed worldwide in 2024, adding to a tally of nearly 3,000 cases across 60 countries. In a related case, four fisher people from Indonesia’s Pari Island filed a complaint in 2023 against Swiss construction giant Holcim, which is appealing a Swiss court’s decision to hear the case.
Nearly 70 survivors of the 2021 super typhoon Rai in the Philippines last year filed a complaint against Shell, arguing that the company’s historic emissions worsened the disaster. Shell denies legal liability. Around 40 farmers in Pakistan also filed a complaint against Heidelberg Materials and German energy giant RWE last year, contending that those companies’ emissions intensified devastating 2022 floods.
These cases are all part of what Laurie Parsons, author of “Carbon Colonialism,” calls a broader conversation about reparations. “Germany’s supply chain law has changed how communities in affected environments around the world can counter corporate activity,” said Parsons, who teaches at Royal Holloway, University of London. “It also changed the mindsets of companies and governments about what's possible.”
With the EU expected to adopt similar standards by 2028, the number of such cases is likely to grow. The Indonesian cement project case, Brüggemann said, “shows how strong the movement is for corporate accountability and how big the need is for regulation of the globalized economy.”
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Delgado reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writer Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.
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