Post Event Highlights: CarboNEX and ASEAN Regional Livestock Carbon Market Convening 2025

Written by: Maurelitya DAYINTA

Verified by: Albert SUTANTO, William DANIEL

The CarboNEX and ASEAN Regional Livestock Carbon Market Convening, held at Jakarta on April 22nd 2025. These two events have focused on the potential of the carbon market in Indonesia and the latest updates on Indonesia's strengthened position to compete effectively in the global market 

CarboNEX: Progress on Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) with Global Standards 

Image 1: Session 1, updates on the MRA with VERRA and Gold Standard

CarboNEX, a strategic forum focusing on Indonesia’s carbon market development presented by TruCarbon and IDX Carbon, featured a distinguished panel including, Eddy Soeparno (Deputy Chairman Indonesia’s MPR), Diaz Hendropriyono (Deputy Minister of Environment), and Jeffrey Hendrik (Director of IDX Business Development). A key focus was the development of a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) with major global carbon standards. These agreements are vital to ensure carbon credits generated in Indonesia are globally tradable.  

However, establishing MRA will poses significant challenges. Diaz Hendropriyono, Deputy Minister of Environment, emphasized that some of the international standards have shown reluctance due to limited experience in executing MRAs at the methodology level with sovereign governments. This lack of precedent necessitates extensive negotiation and careful alignment of technical criteria. Despite these challenges, Indonesia has made notable progress with international carbon standards, including: 

• Gold Standard: Intensive communication and coordination efforts have taken place, with more than ten official meetings conducted. As a result, the negotiation is at an advanced stage, and the MRA is expected to be signed between May and June 2024. This marks a significant milestone, as it would represent one of the first formal recognitions between a sovereign registry and an international standard. 

• Verra: Dialogue with Verra is ongoing. A draft agreement was submitted and is currently under government review. While progress has been cautious, both parties continue to engage in constructive discussions to address technical and procedural concerns. 

• Puro.earth: Indonesia has also initiated early-stage engagement with Puro.earth, which specializes in technology-based carbon removals, such as biochar. Initial communication has been positive, and both parties are optimistic that this collaboration will evolve into a successful MRA in the near future. 

In order to increase the supply of high-quality carbon credits, Indonesia are planning to explore several promising sectors such as Biochar and Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME), as well as technology-based approaches like Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) as a national priority. These initiatives represent a strategic diversification of the carbon credit supply, positioning Indonesia as a key player in both nature-based and technology-based climate solutions within the global carbon market. 

  AACM: ASEAN Regional Livestock Carbon Market Convening 

Image 2: ASEAN Regional Livestock Carbon Market Convening. Organized by AACM with GDP

The ASEAN Regional Livestock Carbon Market Convening is an event hosted by ASEAN Alliance on Carbon Markets (AACM), a private sector-led initiative to boost voluntary carbon markets and support compliance markets across ASEAN and Global Dairy Platform (GDP), global coalition of dairy companies and associations to showcase dairy’s role in sustainable agriculture and healthy diet. This events are supported by turned attention to an often-overlooked area: emissions from livestock and agriculture. Currently, most carbon credits in Southeast Asia come from REDD+ forestry projects, yet livestock presents a promising opportunity for methane reduction and soil regeneration.  

Key Opportunities 

In terms of opportunities, agriculture and livestock sectors are seen as highly complementary to existing carbon market schemes and have the potential to lead voluntary market efforts in the region. Innovations in  fermentation practices, manure management, and waste-to-resource solutions can unlock significant carbon credit potential if supported by robust methodologies. The ASEAN region also benefits from strong natural carbon sinks, especially in the forestry and conservation sector (FOLU). However, the demand side remains a challenge, as buyers often require high-quality, transparent methodologies and MRV systems to meet their climate targets.  

 Key Challenges 

The development and standardization of methodologies is one of the most critical components in advancing carbon credit mechanisms across ASEAN. With numerous methodologies already available, especially for sectors like forestry and energy, the region's immediate task is not necessarily to create new ones, but to select and adapt the most suitable methods for regional contexts. This process would enable faster implementation and broader acceptance among stakeholders. Biggest challenges also lie in methodology gaps, particularly in agriculture and livestock sectors. These sectors offer some of the greatest potential for carbon reduction, but they lack comprehensive, widely recognized methodologies for measuring, reporting, and verifying (MRV) carbon outcomes. Efforts are still needed to develop regionally appropriate frameworks, especially considering the significant role of smallholder farmers across Southeast Asia. Ensuring local engagement and capacity building is key to implementing successful, inclusive climate strategies. 

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