akar.earthJurisdictional REDD+: Definition
What is jurisdictional REDD+? How REDD+ at province or national scale works, ART TREES and VCS JNR, and what jurisdictional approaches mean for Indonesia.
Jurisdictional REDD+ is REDD+ accounting and crediting carried out across a whole jurisdiction, such as a province, state or country, rather than a single project area. The government or an authorised entity sets a reference level for the jurisdiction and earns credits or payments when deforestation falls below it.
Why it matters
Jurisdictional approaches address the main criticisms of project-level REDD+. Baselines are set from jurisdiction-wide data, reducing developer discretion. Leakage within the jurisdiction is captured automatically. Governments can use policy levers, like permits, spatial planning and law enforcement, that projects cannot. Many corporate and sovereign buyers see jurisdictional credits as lower risk.
How it works
- Reference level: historical emissions from deforestation and degradation across the jurisdiction.
- Monitoring: jurisdiction-wide forest loss mapping and emission factors.
- Crediting: emission reductions below the reference level, minus uncertainty and buffer deductions.
- Safeguards and benefit sharing: rules for how revenue reaches communities, indigenous peoples and local governments.
The main standards are ART TREES, which issues serialised 1 tCO2e jurisdictional REDD+ credits, and Verra’s JNR framework. FCPF and ISFL credits can move into the ART registry from the World Bank CATS registry.
Indonesia angle
Indonesia has jurisdictional experience through results-based payments with international donors, including programmes in East Kalimantan and Jambi. Domestic rules under Perpres 110/2025 and Permenhut 6/2026 shape how provincial programmes, national targets and private projects fit together. Existing project-level REDD+ in Indonesia needs a clear nesting path. Our comparison of project vs jurisdictional REDD+ explains the trade-offs.
Common mistakes
- Assuming jurisdictional credits make project-level REDD+ obsolete; nesting can let both coexist.
- Overlooking benefit-sharing design, which drives community support.
- Ignoring the overlap between jurisdictional credits and the national NDC.
- Expecting fast issuance; jurisdictional programmes depend on government data, safeguards reporting and benefit-sharing agreements, which take time to complete.
Related terms
See REDD+, nesting and HFLD, or start at the REDD+ hub.
Frequently asked questions
Who issues jurisdictional REDD+ credits?
Programmes such as ART (under the TREES standard) and Verra's Jurisdictional and Nested REDD+ framework. Credits are issued to the government or an authorised jurisdictional entity.
What happens to existing REDD+ projects inside a jurisdiction?
They may be nested: their baselines and credits are aligned with the jurisdiction's reference level so the same reductions are not counted twice.