Indonesia Pushes Carbon Trading to Cut GHG Emissions

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - Carbon trading is being promoted as a key component of Indonesia’s strategy to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The government is also developing sustainable financing schemes to strengthen forest conservation and support green economic development.

Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni said the government is building an integrated ecosystem that links emission reductions to performance‑based financing. “The aim is to make this funding available for broader activities or programs benefiting the recipients,” Minister Raja Juli said in Jakarta on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, as quoted by Antara.

He explained that the national carbon market is already supported by several regulations and strategic instruments, including the Carbon Unit Registry System (SRUK), which serves as the foundation for recording and managing carbon units.

The SRUK, managed by the Ministry of Environment, records, manages, and verifies carbon units traded. The system is designed to ensure that carbon trading is transparent, credible, and conducted with integrity, while preventing double‑counting of emission reductions.

In addition to carbon trading, the government is strengthening climate‑based financing through the Environmental Fund Management Agency (BPDLH). Funding sources include the Green Climate Fund (GCF) through Results‑Based Payments (RBP) and support from Norway through Results‑Based Contributions (RBC).

As of 2026, 10 proposals from 10 provinces have been evaluated and are now in the program implementation preparation phase. Meanwhile, 34 provinces have accessed funding under the GCF REDD+ RBP Output 2 program, with a total commitment of IDR 761 billion (approximately USD 42.6 million), representing 94.8 percent of the allocation for provinces.

Minister Raja Juli hopes that increasingly robust financing schemes will strengthen forest protection efforts. “Hopefully, with these various improved and more robust schemes, we will be able to build a system to protect our forests even better in the future,” he said. ***