Advanced BioFuels USA

(The Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC)/EurActiv) The decision to target palm oil was based on uncertain science and outdated knowledge which was used in counterintuitive policymaking.

Despite continuous criticism from the palm oil industry, the EU appears to be indifferent when it comes to the politics of trade, affirming its protectionist and discriminatory policy.

The RED II Delegated Act on the determination of high Indirect Land-Use Change (ILUC)-risk feedstock drew on the results of consultation exercises undertaken by the Commission with “experts and stakeholders” in 2018 and 2019 dominated by European groups who were perceived as advocates for the fossil fuel industry.

The CPOPC has from the very beginning held the view that the ILUC approach being used by the EU to categorize feedstocks into high ILUC-risk and low ILUC-risk is flawed.

The ILUC scheme is not consistent with the actual business model and operational practice of palm oil companies; the criteria are not implementable and potential impacts on smallholders is not yet assessed.

Furthermore, ILUC is uncertain because it is dependent on several assumptions that cannot be empirically tested and demonstrated.

For example, there is no direct link when estimating GHG emissions with ILUC because it is difficult to verify the GHG emissions and to identify whether they are part of a biofuel life cycle or a product made from the displaced crop.

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The application of ILUC to single out palm oil in the Delegated Act of RED ll is therefore seen as a thinly disguised form of neocolonialist protectionism and punitive discrimination.

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There is science to support this concern. The ILUC values calculated by the California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board (CARB) are four to five times lower than those found by the GLOBIOM study.

The findings of the European Oilseed Association (EOA) is fact-based when it estimated that: ‘As a result, the use of biodiesel as a replacement to fossil fuels in transport will save 952 million tonnes of CO2 emissions by 2050 (ILUC Directive figures), or 1013 million tonnes of CO2 emissions (CARB calculations).’

These are science-based reports, not theoretical assumptions, which have inspired traditional fossil fuel companies to invest into renewable diesel.

In consideration of these independent reports, it is clear that the EU wants to continue a business-as-usual policy in preferring fossil fuels for energy with its botched attempt to demonize biofuels by using palm oil as a scapegoat.

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The research also shows that smallholders of palm oil have benefited from significant revenue, more than smallholders of rubber, rice and other common commodities.

The protection of smallholders in the palm oil industry against false representation by self-professed not-for-profit groups is one of the reasons for the CPOPC to file its objection.

There are more than four million smallholders in Indonesia and Malaysia as well as other palm oil producing countries who will attest to the free-market system where their harvests have led to remarkably improved livelihoods.

It is crucial for premium markets like the EU’s biofuel sector to support these smallholders and for the EU policy on palm oil to acknowledge information that is factual and updated.   READ MORE