Malaysia tells Brussels palm oil unfairly labeled as high ILUC risk
In Belgium, a high-level Malaysian government delegation is currently in Brussels to participate in the Stakeholder Meeting On High And Low Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) Risk Biofuels Under The Recast Of The Renewable Energy Directive (EU RED II) in an effort to provide clear, accurate and scientific based information to stakeholders with regard to the Draft Delegated Regulation of the EU RED II. The ministry says the Draft Delegated Regulation is lacking in transparency, scientific credibility and many of the assumptions therein fail to reflect the actual sustainable practices in the industry.
The ministry says the draft rule is biased against palm oil biofuels compared with the other crop-based biofuels and believes that overall, palm oil has been unfairly labeled as a high ILUC risk among the eight feedstocks cited in the draft regulation. The delegation argues that these actions create unwarranted barriers to its sustainable practices in the industry and overall impedes free trade.
Malaysia strongly urged the European Commission (EC) to look at the Draft Delegated Regulation in a more holistic, balanced and unbiased manner before implementation. Malaysia reiterated that the classification of all palm oil produce as a high ILUC risk biofuel feedstock in unacceptable since such damaging findings are obtained by erroneous and biased interpretations by the EC. This will have significant detrimental effects on palm oil producing countries who depend on this industry to raise the socio-economic wellbeing of their people and to help these nations achieve the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG).
Category: Policy
