Norway first country to ban biofuel from palm oil

In Norway, the Parliament voted to no longer allow biofuel from palm oil into the country in an effort to stop deforestation in Indonesia and other countries that export palm oil. The decision is set to go into force in 2020.

The recent vote came after earlier attempts at slowly phasing out palm oil, like the government’s ban on itself buying biofuel made from palm oil and voluntary measures that were implemented earlier this year. However, the new decision, which was voted on with majority government support according to the Independent, is said to be “more comprehensive as it covered the entire fuel market.”

The decision also called for the government “to formulate a comprehensive proposal for policies and taxes in the biofuels policy in order to exclude biofuels with high deforestation risk”.

“The Norwegian parliament’s decision sets an important example to other countries and demonstrates the need for a serious reform of the world’s palm oil industry,” said Nils Hermann Ranum of Rainforest Foundation Norway.