Regulation Watch · Environmental Compliance · Indonesia. The regulation governs agricultural greenhouse-gas offset trading from rice-field and horticultural land, livestock businesses and plantation land. It applies to licensed agricultural businesses, including eligible PT PMA and PT PMDN companies, government bodies and farmer institutions. It does not itself change foreign-investment eligibility, land rights, agricultural licensing or the KBLI conditions applicable to a foreign-owned project.
Agricultural Carbon Offsets Get a National SRUK Route
Permentan 18/2026 creates the approval, validation, verification, benefit-sharing and reporting route for carbon offsets from rice fields, livestock and plantations, with implementation beginning three months after promulgation.
- Published
- Established in Jakarta on 6 October 2026 and promulgated on 12 October 2026 in State Bulletin 2026 No. 678. The official Ministry of Agriculture JDIH record published the signed 19-page instrument and identifies it as in force.
- Effective
- The regulation states that it begins after three months counted from its promulgation on 12 October 2026. Project sponsors should complete readiness by 12 January 2027 and confirm the operative date and technical filing route in the implementing guidance before submitting through SRUK.
- Added to Watch
- 17 October 2026
Who is affected
Foreign and domestic investors, PT PMA and PT PMDN agricultural companies, plantation operators, livestock businesses, rice and horticulture operators, farmer cooperatives and other farmer institutions, carbon-project developers, partners and facilitators, landholders, provincial and regency governments, validators, verifiers, carbon-credit buyers, directors, controlling shareholders and environmental, legal, land, finance and sustainability teams.
Practical impact
A licensed agricultural business that wants to generate and trade domestic SPE GRK units must hold an NIB and an agricultural KBLI, cooperate through benefit sharing with at least three nearby farmer institutions, submit a DRAM through the Carbon Unit Registry System, pass Ministry review, use an independent KAN-accredited validator and verifier, implement and report the mitigation action, and obtain the Agriculture Minister's SPE GRK recommendation. International-standard non-SPE units follow a DPP and internationally accredited validation and verification route. Units intended for another country's NDC, an international mitigation obligation or another authorised use also need an Agriculture Minister recommendation before environmental-ministry authorisation. Projects must document land legality, baselines, maps, consultation, free and informed consent, benefit sharing and social, environmental and governance safeguards. The framework covers lower-emission water, seed, fertilizer, residue and livestock-waste practices, soil carbon, perennial and cover crops, degraded-land rehabilitation, conservation agriculture, agroforestry, biochar and biogas.
The Ministry of Agriculture established Permentan 18/2026 on 6 October and promulgated it on 12 October in State Bulletin 2026 No. 678. Article 46 delays commencement until after three months counted from promulgation. Article 45 requires the Agricultural Instrument Standardization Agency head to issue the technical guidance within the same three-month period.
The framework is limited to agricultural offset projects in rice fields and horticultural land, livestock operations and plantations. Eligible mitigation includes lower-emission rice-water management, low-emission varieties, balanced fertilizer, crop-residue management, soil amendments, livestock-waste management, soil-carbon improvement, perennial and cover crops, rehabilitation of degraded agricultural land and conservation agriculture. Cross-sector projects may include agroforestry, biochar and biogas, coordinated with the national carbon-governance steering committee and the relevant sector ministries.
A business project needs more than a carbon methodology. The responsible business must hold an NIB, an agricultural KBLI and the applicable agricultural licence or registration. It must cooperate with at least three nearby farmer institutions through a written benefit-sharing agreement based on free and informed consent. The agreement must state duties, the proportional distribution and its term, with the share informed by technology cost, land or operating scale, achieved reductions and the units generated.
For domestic SPE GRK units, the responsible party submits a DRAM through SRUK. The file must include the mitigation plan and methodology, environmental and sustainable-development impacts, public consultation, land legality, maps, baseline emissions, monitoring, cooperation and consent evidence and a safeguards commitment. Ministry review may take 30 days. A returned file has a 20-day correction period followed by a 10-day re-review, and failure to correct leads to rejection.
After project acceptance, a KAN-accredited, SRUK-registered independent body validates the DRAM. The business then implements and reports the validated action, obtains independent verification and applies through SRUK for the Agriculture Minister's SPE GRK recommendation. A project using an international standard follows a DPP and a non-SPE approval route with an internationally accredited validator and verifier. International use also requires an Agriculture Minister authorisation recommendation and environmental-ministry authorisation.
The rule expressly guards against double counting and project-related legal breaches. It also requires safeguards covering legal compliance, transparent agricultural governance, effective participation, community rights, gender equality, ecosystem and biodiversity conservation, reversal risk and emissions leakage. Ongoing reports must cover trading implementation, community participation, benefit sharing and complaint follow-up, and the Ministry evaluates projects at least annually.
Existing projects and units are not automatically grandfathered outside the new system. Projects already in validation, implementation, verification or reporting, and existing units that are untraded or were traded from a crediting period beginning in 2021, must be reported within six months after commencement. Sponsors should map that transitional position now and wait for the technical guidance before assuming that a legacy unit can be issued, authorised or traded under the new route.
Required action
- Confirm the project is genuinely within the agricultural offset scope and that the responsible entity holds a valid NIB, the correct agricultural KBLI, the necessary agricultural business licence or registration and lawful rights or authority over every project area.
- Identify at least three nearby farmer institutions for a business-led project and negotiate a written benefit-sharing agreement based on free and informed consent. State each party's duties, the proportional benefit percentage and the agreement term, supported by technology cost, land or operating scale, verified emission reduction and expected carbon units.
- Prepare the DRAM for domestic SPE GRK units or the DPP for an international-standard non-SPE route. Include the mitigation design, methodology, environmental and sustainable-development impacts, public consultation, monitoring plan, land evidence, cooperation documents, maps, emissions baseline, consent evidence and safeguards commitment.
- Submit the project through SRUK and calendar the Ministry's 30-day review, the 20-day correction window and the 10-day re-review period. Preserve the SRUK submission, return notice, correction file and acceptance or rejection decision.
- Appoint an independent validator and verifier with the required agricultural competence, legal-entity status, accreditation and SRUK registration. For a non-SPE route, verify that the accreditation is internationally recognised.
- Implement only the validated mitigation action, preserve measurement and operating evidence, prepare the implementation report and obtain independent verification before applying through SRUK for the Agriculture Minister's SPE GRK recommendation or non-SPE approval.
- For units intended for international use, seek the Agriculture Minister's authorisation recommendation through SRUK and do not market or transfer the units as authorised until the environmental minister grants the required authorisation.
- Build annual reporting controls for project implementation, community participation, benefit-sharing performance and complaint resolution, and retain evidence against double counting, reversal, emissions leakage and adverse impacts on communities, vulnerable groups, biodiversity and agricultural ecosystems.
- If the project or carbon units predate the regulation, inventory the exact validation, implementation, verification, reporting, issuance and transaction status so the six-month transitional report can be filed after the regulation becomes effective.