Indonesia, the world’s fourth most-populated country and third largest democracy, has attracted global media attention for its fight against high-level political corruption. Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (the Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi, or KPK), which was established in 2004, has successfully prosecuted officials across the political spectrum and at levels ranging from corrupt city council members to the well-connected relatives of high-ranking central government officials. Yet despite the KPK’s many successes, corruption remains pervasive in resource extraction industries in Indonesia’s outlying islands. This entrenched corruption is a matter of concern not just for Indonesia but for the whole world, because corruption in this sector could kneecap efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions and could threaten the global transition to a green economy. The two sectors where this threat is most serious are nickel ore mining and palm oil farming:

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