Forestry Sector Carbon Trading Through GHG Offsets: PERMENHUT 6/2026

The Ministry of Forestry has issued Regulation 6 of 2026 setting the procedures for carbon trading through greenhouse gas emission offsets in the forestry sector (Peraturan Menteri Kehutanan Nomor 6 Tahun 2026 tentang Tata Cara Perdagangan Karbon Melalui Offset Emisi Gas Rumah Kaca Sektor Kehutanan). It governs how forestry actors turn verified emission reductions into tradable carbon units and how the Minister screens the applications that feed into Indonesia's Nationally Determined Contribution.

Carbon trading is a market-based mechanism for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the sale and purchase of carbon units, as Pasal 1 defines it. The forestry sector matters to Indonesia's climate targets because forests store and absorb carbon, and the regulation places offset activity inside the national economic value of carbon (Nilai Ekonomi Karbon) framework and the country's NDC commitment under the Paris Agreement. Pasal 1 also sets out the building blocks of the scheme: the carbon unit as a certified reduction or absorption measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, the GHG Emission Reduction Certificate (SPE GRK) as the domestic instrument of proof, and the emission offset as a reduction made to compensate for emissions produced elsewhere. Eligibility runs through forestry tenure and access rights, including forest utilization business licensing (PBPH), social forestry management approval, and registered private forest holdings.

Pasal 16 sets the document-checking stage. The Minister examines the completeness of an application through an electronic system, and beyond completeness the review looks at the applicant's compliance history and any administrative sanctions. The examination runs for at most fourteen working days once the requirements are declared complete, and the Minister assigns senior officials according to the applicant's category: sustainable forest management for PBPH and management-right holders, social forestry for social forestry approval holders, customary-law communities holding adat forest status, and registered private forests, and natural resource conservation for carbon environmental-service licence holders. The notification that follows either advances a recommendation when the file is complete and unsanctioned, requests correction within fourteen working days when it is administratively incomplete, or proposes rejection when the applicant is under sanction, in which case a fresh application cannot be filed until the sanction is lifted.

Pasal 22 addresses the parallel track for non-SPE GRK issuance, requiring validation of the mitigation design document through an independent validation body, implementation of the climate change mitigation action in line with that document, independent verification of the results, a verification report, and supporting data. Pasal 23 applies the SPE GRK document-examination rules to non-SPE issuance on a mutatis mutandis basis. Under Pasal 24, a ministerial approval for non-SPE GRK issuance by an international standard is valid for six months, after which the responsible party for the mitigation action submits that approval to the relevant international standard body. The regulation also provides for a ministerial recommendation supporting authorization and corresponding adjustment where carbon is traded across borders.

The regulation ties access to the carbon market to a clean compliance record, so forestry operators carrying unresolved administrative sanctions are shut out until those are cleared. The separate treatment of PBPH holders, social forestry groups, adat communities, and conservation licence holders means the same offset procedure reaches different tenure classes through different reviewing officials. The scheme sits alongside other recent forestry measures such as related forestry regulations and permit rules, and connects to the wider climate and energy agenda advanced through instruments like energy sector regulations.

Regulatory Context

By routing forestry offsets through domestic SPE GRK certificates and, separately, through international-standard non-SPE units with a corresponding-adjustment path for cross-border trade, PERMENHUT 6/2026 places forestry carbon transactions within a single procedural chain from validation to certification. The electronic examination system and the fixed review periods give applicants defined timelines at each step, and the compliance-history screen makes an operator's regulatory standing a precondition for entering the market.

Read the full regulation in the CRPG Law Database.

Methodology: This memo summarises the official regulation text and is not legal advice; report corrections to contact@crpg.info.

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