By Vijay Jayaraj

In the modern climate debate, emotion and partisan allegiance replace critical thinking to smear carbon dioxide (CO₂) as a dangerous pollutant. Well-crafted green advocacies steal the spotlight, while reason languishes in the shadows of medieval-style witch hunts.

The reality, however, is seen in places like the dense tropical forests of Indonesia’s many verdant islands. Among them are Sulawesi, Kalimantan (Borneo) and Sumatra, green jewels in the Southeast Asian archipelago covered by extensive spreads of trees and other vegetation. Yet, they also tell us how a mad rush for “clean technologies” is destroying these ancient wonders of flora and fauna.

The biologically rich forests of these islands are beneficiaries of a long and stable period of global warmth, a climatic benevolence that began with the dawn of the Holocene epoch 11,700 years ago and the end of the last great advance of continental glaciers thousands of feet thick.

Today, sustaining this lush growth, are modestly higher temperatures and increasing atmospheric CO₂ – the former the product of natural cycles and the latter the result mainly of industrial emissions of the gas. Both are conducive to the well-being of most living things.

A fundamental building block for photosynthesis, atmospheric CO₂ is an aerial fertilizer that promotes plant growth, increasing water-use efficiency and generally enhancing forest life.

The burning of fossil fuels that climate alarmists irrationally demonize, in actuality, enhance the vitality of Indonesia’s green canopy. That is a simple truth supported by data from such sources as NASA satellite records and reams of scientific research.

The real problems for Indonesian forests are environmental assaults from once-rampant illegal logging and a relentless expansion of plantations for palm oil and pulpwood. However, the nation has turned a corner with the enactment of laws in the past 15 years to control deforestation, even as the country’s economy and population grew.

“Deforestation has been declining from six or so years ago, when there were peak rates,” noted Rod Taylor, global director of the forests program at the World Resources Institute. “It’s good news and commendable for Indonesia.”

In Tesso Nilo National Park – once overrun by illegal plantations – roughly 40,000 hectares have been reclaimed and are undergoing reforestation. Births of Sumatran rhinos in Way Kambas in 2022 and 2025 and sightings of tiger cubs in the Leuser Ecosystem represent small ecological victories, as Indonesia continues to work on reversing declines in the populations of Sumatran tigers and elephants over the past two decades.

Meanwhile a challenge has arisen from an unexpected quarter: the nickel boom driven by an obsession with electric vehicles.

The global push for a “green transition” has ignited an unprecedented demand for nickel, a metal that is the backbone of lithium-ion batteries for EVs. While lithium mainly helps move ions in batteries, it’s nickel that drives higher energy density and extends the driving range of EVs.

In a standard EV battery, the 43 kilograms of nickel is the most expensive raw material, costing more than $750. By 2030, global EV sales are projected to top 50 million units per year, with batteries driving more than half of the surge in nickel demand – soaking up over 1.5 million metric tons annually.

Indonesia, sitting on the world’s largest nickel reserves, is the epicenter of an expansion in its mining. In 2023, the nation produced over half of the world’s mined nickel.

Deforestation is no longer driven primarily by palm oil production, but rather by the voracious appetite of the EV supply chain. Over 75,000 hectares of Indonesian forest have already been cleared for nickel mines. Across the nickel belts of Central Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi and North Maluku, entire landscapes are being wrecked.

Where rainforests and coastal villages once stood, gargantuan open-pit mines and sprawling industrial parks now dominate. These supply nickel to the world’s leading battery manufacturers.

The future of Indonesia’s magnificent forests now hinges on a critical choice: Whether to continue to chase the illusion of a “clean energy” future at the expense of the real-world devastation required to build it?

The Indonesian government has shown it can protect its forests when the incentives are aligned. But no moratorium can stand against the tsunami of a global commodity rush driven by the climate policies of the world’s wealthiest nations.

Hard-won gains are at risk of being wiped out by an EV industry that arrogantly and falsely claims the environmental moral high ground. The real destroyer is climate policy, not climate change. The public has been told a lie that is no longer tolerable.

This commentary was first published by California Globe on August 4, 2025.

Vijay Jayaraj is a Science and Research Associate at the CO₂ Coalition, Fairfax, Virginia. He holds an M.S. in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, both in the U.K., and a bachelor’s in engineering from Anna University, India.