15 May 2024 | 14:30 UTC — Insight Blog

Indonesian nature-based carbon project Rimba Raya hits regulatory wall

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Featuring Staff and Eric Yep


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Energy transition highlights: Our editors and analysts bring you the biggest stories from the industry this week, from renewables to storage to carbon prices.

The Indonesian government recently revoked the license of Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve Project, one of the world’s largest nature-based carbon projects, located in Central Kalimantan on the island of Borneo.

From June 2013 to April 2024, carbon credits from Rimba Raya accounted for about 6.84% of total nature-based avoidance credits issued by Verra, and 9.1% of the total retired volume of nature-based avoidance credits, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights.

The license revocation has raised questions about the continued supply of credits from the project and impacted a wide swathe of market participants ranging from carbon brokerages and exchanges to traders and end-users, as Rimba Raya was considered a high-quality project.

The project got into trouble at a time when voluntary carbon markets are already down, limiting some of the immediate market impact. But the incident has also reignited concerns around regulatory risks and information transparency for carbon projects in developing economies.

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