Indonesia is home to the world’s third largest rainforest, a vital asset in the global fight against climate change. With ambitious targets to reduce emissions, the country is moving swiftly to harness carbon trading as a tool for sustainable development in the forestry sector. In partnership with the Directorate of Business Control and Forest Utilization (PUPH) under Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is supporting national efforts to accelerate voluntary carbon trading in the forestry sector. Through the Climate Promise project, this collaboration focuses on building the technical skills of government staff to help implement Indonesia’s climate commitments more effectively.  

Together, UNDP and the Ministry of Forestry are organizing a series of capacity-building sessions aimed at strengthening understanding of carbon baseline disaggregation, a key step in developing carbon trading mechanisms. These sessions equip staff with the tools and knowledge to track and manage emissions more accurately across forest, peatland, and mangrove areas.  

Turning Policy into Action 

The first training, held on 3rd December 2024, brought in experts like Prof. Rizaldi Boer from IPB University and Prof. Dr. Haruni Krisnawati, Expert Staff for Climate Change, Ministry of Forestry, Republic of Indonesia. The session focused on recent regulations, including Ministerial Regulation No. 1027/2023, and introduced the national roadmap for carbon trading in the forestry sector. Participants explored how the Business Permit for Forest Utilization (PBPH) can support the achievement of Indonesia’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). 

Building on this foundation, the second session on 17 January 2025, was more technical. Government staff practiced mapping out baseline emissions and NDC targets at different levels, from sector to sub-sub-sector. They worked through methods to calculate emission surpluses and deficits, explored data breakdown techniques, and identified key indicators to disaggregate baselines and enhanced NDC targets to the private sector level. 

A baseline is a reference point used to measure how much emissions are reduced over time. In carbon trading, baselines help determine the value of emission reductions. By breaking down baselines into smaller sectors like peatlands or mangroves, Indonesia can better understand which areas are contributing to emission reductions and how to improve efforts in each. 

For most participants, the workshop series has deepened their knowledge on understanding baseline disaggregation method and emission reduction target in the forestry sector. Aside from that, it also helped improved connectivity among other departments. 

For many participants, the training helped make complex topics more understandable. Sawitri Retno Handayanti, Head of Administration at PUPH, appreciated the opportunity to reconnect with technical knowledge after moving into a management role.  

“Not many people understand this topic (calculating carbon disaggregation). So, when we learnt from Prof. Rizaldi, we could finally grasp the process,” she said.  

Through intensive discussions, participants could also further learn about specific activities in three different sub-sectoral and sub sub-sectoral of forestry, mangrove and peatland, while gaining a deeper understanding on the history of FoLU Net Sink 2030 and the voluntary carbon trading in the forestry sector.  

“This carbon thing and FoLU Net Sink is new; it has just been around since 2021. Next, I want to also learn something related to carbon, maybe disaggregation carbon, or something else. But I hope I can re-learn everything from the beginning, and more specific,” Sawitri added.  

Through interactive discussions, participants also deepened their understanding of activities across forestry, mangrove, and peatland sub-sectors, while gaining perspective on the history of FoLU Net Sink 2030 and the development of voluntary carbon trading in the forestry sector. 

The training underscored the importance of maintaining data consistency and regularly updating datasets to ensure accurate and reliable calculations. Participants were introduced to a range of carbon accounting methods and the practical mechanisms of carbon trading. This knowledge equips them to design, implement, and manage sustainable projects with measurable climate impacts, such as forest restoration, deforestation prevention, and reducing forest degradation.