Ecobiz.asia — Indonesia will only unlock the full value of its nature-based carbon market if project developers and investors rely on high-quality geospatial data to guide project selection, risk assessment and monitoring, Space Intelligence CEO Murray Collins said at the Global Carbon Summit Indonesia 2025, hosted by Ecobiz Asia on Nov. 26–27, 2025.
Collins warned that many actors still depend on “legacy, slow and uncertain” analytical methods, including manual map reviews and inconsistent datasets, which create delays and heighten technical risks in project pipelines. “If you cannot accurately quantify carbon potential or detect degradation, you cannot build a credible project,” he said.
He cited common bottlenecks: weeks-long screening processes, uncertainties in land-use change data, and difficulties in detecting subtle forest degradation that could undermine carbon credit issuance.
Space Intelligence’s decade-long work in Indonesia—mapping 189 million hectares across seven time points—shows the country’s technical opportunity is vast, but data gaps remain a major barrier. The firm estimates Indonesia could generate up to 300 million tonnes of CO₂e annually from nature-based solutions, supporting a potential 880 projects, but only if developers use investment-grade datasets aligned with carbon methodologies.
Collins said a comprehensive approach to data from initial eligibility assessments to near real-time monitoring, is essential for investor confidence. He highlighted the company’s monitoring platform, which detects forest degradation on a biweekly basis, and its screening tool that instantly evaluates carbon credit potential and project risks.
“This isn’t a side activity for Indonesia,” Collins said. “It’s the foundation of a new industry. High-quality data determines which projects succeed, which attract investment and which deliver impact.”
Space Intelligence urged developers, investors and government partners to adopt standardized datasets, automated screening tools and continuous monitoring to strengthen market integrity as Indonesia scales up its carbon portfolio. ***
