Indonesia Opens Forestry Carbon Sector to International Investment Under New Ministerial Regulation

Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry (Kemenhut) has publicly reaffirmed that forestry-sector carbon investment is fully open to both domestic and international players, anchored by a newly issued regulatory instrument. Speaking in Jakarta, Edo Mahendra, characterised the current moment as a new chapter in the country’s carbon market history, arguing that political will has now been converted into concrete regulatory output rather than remaining aspirational.

The centrepiece of the new framework is Ministry of Forestry Regulation No. 6 of 2026 (Permenhut 6/2026), which Kemenhut says simplifies the business processes governing forest carbon credit investment without compromising credit quality or integrity. Officials stated that all economic-value-of-carbon mechanisms are accessible to investors — including a nesting scheme, described as essential for ensuring environmental integrity, preventing double counting, and maintaining market and investor confidence. Director General of Sustainable Forest Management Laksmi Wijayanti emphasised that Indonesia welcomes all forms of carbon investment in its forestry sector under the framework.

Kemenhut officials also cited scale-of-ambition commitments announced by Indonesia’s Presidential Special Envoy for Climate and Energy at COP 30 in Belém, Brazil (2025): restoration and rehabilitation of 12 million hectares of degraded land; avoidance-based forestry emission reduction covering 50 million hectares; social forestry programmes spanning 8.3 million hectares; and customary/indigenous forest areas of 1.4 million hectares. Director Ilhamof Forest Utilization Business Development said the scale of the presidential commitment to reforestation creates a demanding challenge for the sector but aligns squarely with international market appetite for high-quality, high-integrity credits. Permenhut 6/2026 explicitly benchmarks eligibility against international standards and the Core Carbon Principles (CCP) of the Integrity Council for Voluntary Carbon Markets (ICVCM), covering additionality, community benefit-sharing, biodiversity protection, and applicable safeguards.