KUCHING: Indonesia is poised to become the world’s largest exporter of forestry-based carbon credits, with projections indicating that up to 13 billion carbon credit units could be generated between 2024 and 2050.
According to the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), this potential stems from the country’s vast tropical forests spanning over 90 million hectares and their substantial carbon absorption capacity.
Kadin chairman Anindya Novyan Bakrie said that with proper governance, Indonesia could emerge as a global leader in carbon markets while advancing a green economic future.
Kadin is also developing the Regenerative Forest Business Hub to ensure transparency and sustainability in forestry-based carbon projects.
“Building strong national and regional carbon markets will be essential to supporting this green transition,” said Anindya during the 2025 Indonesia International Sustainability Forum, as reported by the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) Tropical Timber Market Report (October 16–31, 2025).
At the forum, Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni outlined key strategies for establishing a robust, inclusive, and globally connected carbon market ecosystem. These include reforesting 10 million hectares of degraded and critical land.
“First of all, Indonesia needs to ensure a clear policy,” he said, adding that synchronising measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) processes with global standards is crucial. “The next step is to attract institutional investors to fund mitigation efforts based on nature-based solutions while achieving interoperability with the global carbon market.”
Raja Juli expressed confidence that these measures would drive Indonesia’s growth and position it as a global hub for sustainable carbon development.
“Indonesia is now open to nature-based solutions, which are not only for carbon reduction but also for carbon removal initiatives, such as afforestation, reforestation and revegetation,” he said.
His ministry is pursuing these efforts through three approaches — social forestry, conservation and sustainable forest management. The target to replant 10 million hectares of degraded and critical land, set by President Prabowo Subianto, reflects the country’s strong political will to restore ecosystems and strengthen carbon absorption.
Raja Juli stressed that success will require collaboration across multiple stakeholders.
“These efforts would require collaboration from the private sector, local communities and the public, which is crucial,” he said, adding that economic value can be derived from forest-based carbon absorption through such cooperation.
At the same event, the Ministry of Investment and Downstreaming announced that Indonesia had secured about US$17.47 billion in green investment commitments.
Meanwhile, the Forestry Ministry through its Directorate General of Sustainable Forest Management declared that restructuring forest utilisation business permits is a strategic priority to improve national forest governance.
Director General Laksmi Wijayanti said the initiative aims to enhance the effectiveness and quality of forest governance while addressing long-standing issues, including land conflicts and community rights.
“This policy reflects the ministry’s broader commitment to achieving social, environmental and economic balance in forest management across Indonesia,” she said.
The restructuring process focuses on reducing conflict risks, clarifying land status, and promoting more efficient and sustainable forest use.
In related efforts, the ministry is also expanding the capacity of verifiers responsible for approving customary forest designations to meet its five-year target of 1.4 million hectares. Recent training sessions were held in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, to help local governments meet technical requirements for customary forest designation.
Four more rounds of training are planned across Indonesia to develop a sufficient pool of qualified verifiers. Earlier this year, Raja Juli established a task force to accelerate customary forest determination, targeting the completion of 70,688 hectares of customary forest by next month.
