LAUSR

Abstract This article analyses the main reasons why Indonesia’s climate justice movement has so far struggled to grow into an influential mass movement. Drawing on insights from the literature on social movements, the article identifies three main reasons for this limited growth. First, Indonesia’s democratic decline during the presidency of Joko Widodo has restricted political opportunities for mobilisation. Second, climate justice as a concept remains difficult to frame at the grassroots where the impact of climate change is felt most severely but awareness of the links between severe weather events, climate change, and justice issues remains relatively low. Third, the climate justice movement has struggled to build effective coalitions with broader mass constituencies and the movement itself is divided between an old generation of moderate environmentalists and younger, more radical climate justice activists.