Day Three brought the conference back into the room and into its most politically charged territory yet. The setting itself was fitting: Deakin Lancaster University Indonesia, is one-of-a-kind institution that brings together two internationally renowned universities under one roof , Deakin University from Australia and Lancaster University from the United Kingdom, making it a uniquely fitting host for a conference built on the spirit of cross-cultural collaboration. The day kicked-off the day by a welcome video from Pak Arifin, Chief Operating Officer at Deakin Lancaster University Indonesia, who extended a warm welcome to delegates and framed his institution’s mission around equitable and sustainable approaches to advancing climate goals.
Panel: What is a Just Energy Transition? Importance of Equitable Practices
The morning panel opened with a distinction that set the tone for everything that followed: when we think of the energy transition, we instinctively think of renewable resources. But the word “just” demands something more. It demands that indigenous peoples, remote communities, and other marginalised groups are not left behind, and that the transition is built with them rather than for them.
Dr Martina Calais, Murdoch University, laid out three conditions for a just transition: that the distribution of costs reduces inequalities rather than deepens them; that human rights and the rights of nature are actively upheld; and that access to data, opportunities, and knowledge are handled equitably rather than captured by a narrow group of interests. Tri Mumpuni (Bu Puni), IBEKA, brought three decades of grassroots experience to the table. Her framing was direct and deeply human. “I don’t care about numbers. What I care is that every household has energy” she said. Her message to delegates was equally clear “bring your technical knowledge, but bring your empathy too. Technology is only useful if it reaches everyone, and reaching everyone requires young people willing to walk alongside communities rather than design from above.
Dr Ian Wilson, Murdoch University, offered the panel’s most structurally critical perspective, reframing the just energy transition as a political problem rather than a technical one. Oligarchic interests and technocratic experts have dominated energy decision-making, he argued, and the green transition is increasingly being used to justify practices that are deeply unjust. Nickel extraction in Indonesia is a case in point: critical minerals are mined for globally green purposes while local communities bear the cost.
Dinda Ayu Maharasi, Climateworks Center, grounded the equity argument in policy failure, pointing to local employment requirements in energy projects that are routinely gamed through loopholes, leaving the communities those policies were designed to protect no better off.
Before opening the questions, the moderator played a short film about a village in Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara, where children had studies by the flickering light of kerosene lamps and residents charged their phones from used motorcycle batteries. The film documented the arrival of PowerWells, a solar-powered lighting system developed through the KINETIK and New Energy Nexus Indonesia program, and the quiet transformation it brought. Women who had stopped weaving when it got dark could now work into the evening. Children could read at night. Shown at this point in the panel, the film did what no policy argument could: it made the discussion tangible.
CAUSINDY Collab Session 3
With presentations due the following day, the third and final Collab session saw delegates working with real focus and urgency. Groups refined their proposals, sharpened their arguments, and brought together everything the week’s panels and site visits had surfaced. The room had the quiet energy of people who know what they want to say and are working out exactly how to say it.
Engaging Future Leaders Program
The afternoon brought a different kind of energy into the room. Indonesian university students joined CAUSINDY delegates for the Engaging Future Leaders Challenge, facilitated by the Climateworks Centre. The session opened with a presentation on the Net Zero on Campus initiative, framing university campuses as living laboratories for climate action and positioning students as climate leaders with a genuine role to play.
Delegates and students were divided into eight mixed groups and challenged to develop net zero campus initiatives that could be implemented at their university, across universities, and in the wider community. The session was as much about connection as it was about ideas. For the university students in the room, the afternoon offered something beyond a workshop: a chance to sit alongside emerging leaders from both countries, share their own perspectives, and feel that the baton of the bilateral relationship was being extended to them.
CAUSINDY Gala Dinner
The day concluded with the CAUSINDY Gala Dinner, proudly supported by KINETIK. Bringing together delegates, mentors, speakers, and partners, the evening was a fitting celebration of the connection forged throughout the week and a reminder that the relationship built at CAUSINDY extends far beyond any single conference.