Japan–Indonesia clean energy paradox? Environmental offshoring, palm oil plantations, and multispecies plural futures

The bilateral palm kernel shell (PKS) trade between Indonesia and Japan manifests a fundamental clean energy paradox, wherein transboundary decarbonisation agendas generate conditions for localised socio-ecological friction across Dayak Iban ancestral territories and orangutan habitats. Based on field observations in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, this study analyses PKS procurement as an extension of the broader political economy of palm oil expansion. It demonstrates how clean energy demands in Japan monetise plantation residues, reinforcing existing agrarian capital structures, state-backed land concessions, and environmental offshoring. By tracing how residue valuation deepens multispecies displacement and community marginalisation, this research links international green energy supply chains to industrial plantation extractivism. Ultimately, this work advances multispecies political ecology by exposing the structural inequalities disguised within transboundary decarbonisation agendas.