The coal-fired power plant Cirebon Unit 2 is a 1,000MW power plant under development in Indonesia. The first unit of the Cirebon coal fired power plant, the 660MW Cirebon 1, was also an Equator Principles project. Since the construction of Cirebon 1, the local community has suffered heavily from ongoing adverse environmental impacts of the plant.

The people residing at villages near the plant have traditionally relied on small-scale fishing, shellfish harvesting and farming for their livelihood, and these livelihoods are all but gone due to Cirebon’s pollution, use of water resources and impacts on the natural environment.

Construction of the first plant started before any environmental impact assessment (EIA) was completed, and communities complained about a lack of transparency during the land acquisition process for the plant site. A similar situation is emerging in the process of EIA and land acquisition for Cirebon 2. Despite many warnings from NGOs and the local communities, several Equator banks finance the project.