Paradigmatic Dialectics in the Criminal Law Policy of Carbon Trading: Constructing the Gradatum Remedium Principle Based on Pancasila Justice

Silverius Yoseph Soeharso (Universitas Pancasila)
Agus Surono (Universitas Pancasila)
Adnan Hamid (Universitas Pancasila)
Maslihati Nur Hidayati (Universitas Pancasila)

Sinergi International Journal of Law
Vol. 4 No. 2 (2026): May 2026

Carbon trading has emerged as a key instrument for climate change mitigation, yet its distinctive legal characteristics - intangible, registry-based, technically verified, and tradable assets - create significant enforcement challenges. In Indonesia, although the regulatory framework for carbon economic value and carbon-market supervision has developed, the relationship between administrative, civil, and criminal enforcement remains insufficiently structured, creating uncertainty in responding to carbon-market violations. This study examines the paradigmatic tension between the Ultimum Remedium principle, which positions criminal law as a last resort, and the Primum Remedium principle, which supports early criminal intervention for serious environmental harm. Using normative legal research with statutory, conceptual, philosophical, and limited comparative approaches, this study analyzes Indonesian carbon-trading, environmental, financial-sector, and criminal-law regulations. The findings indicate that Indonesia does not lack criminal-law provisions; rather, it lacks a carbon-market-specific enforcement framework that establishes clear and proportional escalation according to the gravity of violations. This study therefore constructs the Gradatum Remedium principle as a dialectical synthesis of Ultimum Remedium and Primum Remedium. The proposed principle establishes five levels of enforcement: (1) administrative correction and compliance; (2) civil liability and restitution; (3) light criminal sanctions for serious regulatory violations; (4) severe criminal sanctions for fraudulent, organized, or environmentally harmful conduct; and (5) additional sanctions, including asset confiscation, restoration, corporate compliance measures, and revocation of carbon-market rights. The framework integrates culpability, market integrity, MRV reliability, registry validity, financial-crime risks, and Pancasila justice. It provides a novel normative foundation for proportional and justice-oriented carbon-market enforcement in Indonesia.