JAKARTA, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Indonesia plans to start offering carbon credit certificates to international buyers next week, the country's carbon exchange said, to raise funds to help efforts to achieve its carbon neutrality target.

Indonesia is an archipelago with the world's third-largest rainforest area, but is also one of the world's top 10 green house gas emitters.

The first offer of carbon credit certificates for international buyers will be launched on Monday, Jan. 20, the exchange said.

The certificates will come from emission reductions from several power projects on Java island worth 2.48 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), the Ministry of Environment said earlier this week, according to state news agency Antara.

Indonesia launched carbon emission credit trading for domestic players in September 2023, but the market has been mostly illiquid due to a lack of supply and demand.

Trading value as of December 2024 was 50.64 billion rupiah ($3.10 million), while trading volume reached 908,018 tons of CO2e, according to Indonesia's Financial Services Authority.

New President Prabowo Subianto has plans to raise funds through sales of carbon offsets. Last year, he said he was optimistic Indonesia could reach net zero emissions in 2050, a decade earlier than previously targeted, including by retiring coal-fired power plants.

($1 = 16,360.0000 rupiah)

(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Editing by Gayatri Suroyo and Kim Coghill)

((Ananda.Teresia@thomsonreuters.com;))