By Chen Chen Lee and Lau Xin Yi
For The Jakarta Post
Relations between the European Union and Malaysia and Indonesia hit an obstacle when Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Indonesia’s Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan recently threatened to boycott EU’s products if the bloc issues a ban on palm oil as a biofuel.
As the largest buyer of certified sustainable palm oil, the European Commission recently concluded that palm oil cultivation has led to excessive deforestation. Consequently, palm oil will no longer qualify to be considered toward the EU renewable transportation targets for national governments. This presents a major setback for the industry as nearly half (48 percent) of all EU’s palm oil imports in 2016 were channeled to biofuels.
Full article: Making sustainable consumption of palm oil the norm in Asia [First published in The Jakarta Post on 10 April 2019]
