Indonesia's nickel boom is the green transition's biggest contradiction. Locals are paying for it.

On the island of Halmahera, in Indonesia’s North Maluku province, the rivers run red. The discolouration is caused by laterite ore sediment from the nickel mines that have expanded rapidly across the island over the past six years. Local fishermen report catches down by more than 60 percent. Several villages have lost access to clean groundwater. The mining companies say their practices comply with Indonesian environmental law. Indonesian environmental law, in this area, is not stringent.

Halmahera produces approximately 12 percent of the world’s nickel. Most of that nickel will end up in lithium-ion batteries — the batteries that power the electric vehicles that are central to the global strategy for reducing carbon emissions.