Mutual Recognition Between Indonesia and International Standards

Updated 2026-11-02 · 4 min read · By the akar.earth specialist team

Mutual recognition arrangements for carbon in Indonesia: how international standards such as Verra may link to SRUK, and what developers should check.

A mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) is an agreement that lets Indonesia’s national carbon system and an international crediting programme recognise each other’s methodologies, verification or units. For forest-carbon developers, MRAs decide whether a project certified under a standard such as Verra or Gold Standard can also be recorded in Indonesia’s SRUK registry and traded domestically, without running two separate certification processes.

What mutual recognition is

Indonesia’s carbon economic value (NEK) framework issues its own offset unit, the SPE-GRK, recorded in the national registry SRUK. International programmes, including the Verra VCS Program, Gold Standard and Plan Vivo, issue their own units in their own registries.

Without recognition, a project that wants both a domestic and an international unit has to satisfy two sets of rules, two validation and verification processes and two registries, while avoiding double issuance. Mutual recognition aims to reduce that duplication. Depending on its terms, an arrangement can cover:

• recognition of the international programme’s methodologies as acceptable for domestic issuance;
• acceptance of verification by the programme’s accredited bodies;
• data interoperability between registries, so a unit is recorded once and tracked in both;
• rules to cancel or flag units in one registry when they are used in the other.

The legal hooks in Indonesian rules

Several 2026 instruments create space for recognition, even though the details sit in separate agreements:

• POJK 10/2026 widens the scope of “unit karbon” on the carbon exchange and allows trading of some overseas units not recorded in SRUK. See POJK 10/2026.
• Permen LH/BPLH 11/2026, according to secondary analysis, provides that where data interoperability with international standards is not yet available, self-recording in SRUK must happen within two working days of a verification report, certificate issuance or transaction.
• Permenhut 6/2026 sets the forestry procedure, with recording in the national system before trading. See Permenhut 6/2026.

The two-working-day rule is the clearest signal: the government expects international-standard units to exist alongside SRUK, and wants them recorded nationally either through automated links or manually.

Why it matters now

Indonesia supplies most of Southeast Asia’s nature-based credits: 59.3% of the 129 million issued under VCS and Gold Standard in the region to April 2025. Much of that supply was certified before the 2025–2026 reforms. Research on Indonesian credits names regulatory uncertainty as one reason they trade at a fraction of real abatement cost. Clear recognition rules would reduce that uncertainty for both existing projects and new ones, and give buyers one consistent record of each tonne. Unclear rules, by contrast, leave developers guessing whether a unit sold abroad will later be challenged at home.

Who it applies to

• Developers of Indonesian projects certified under international programmes.
• International standard bodies that negotiate the arrangements.
• Buyers who want an international-standard unit and assurance that it is visible in Indonesia’s registry.
• Validation and verification bodies whose accreditation may need to be recognised domestically.

What it means for forest-carbon developers and buyers

Plan for dual recording. Even with an MRA, assume your project will need to appear in SRUK. Build registry recording into the project timeline and budget.

Recognition is not authorisation. An MRA does not by itself make a unit eligible for international transfer with a corresponding adjustment. Authorisation remains a separate government decision.

Methodology fit matters. If an arrangement recognises only certain methodologies, a project using another one may still need a domestic route. Check scope before choosing a methodology. Our feasibility and eligibility work covers this choice.

Community requirements apply regardless. Permenhut 6/2026 requires community projects to work with registered partners and, for international access, to meet additionality, benefit-sharing and FPIC principles. International standards have their own safeguards; recognition does not lower either set.

For a fuller registry comparison, see SRUK vs Verra registry.

Open questions

• Which arrangements are signed and in force. We have not verified a complete, dated list. Confirm with the Ministry of Environment (KLH) and the relevant standard body.
• Scope by sector. Whether forestry units are covered on the same terms as energy or waste units.
• Legacy credits. How units issued before an arrangement are treated.
• Interoperability timing. When automated data links between SRUK and international registries will work.

For the wider framework, see the Indonesia regulation hub.