Oil palm plantation Indonesia
The Indonesian government has filed a lawsuit against the European Union at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the bloc's plans to phase out the use of palm oil-based biofuels. Indonesia is the world's biggest producer of palm oil but Europe says it is concerned about the environmental impact caused by deforestation associated with the intensive farming of the crop.
The European Commission made the conclusion earlier this year that palm oil cultivation leads to excessive deforestation and that its use in biofuels should be phased out by 2030.
Indonesia has been threatening to take the EU to the WTO over RED II, its renewable energy directive, for months calling the plan "discriminatory".
"Indonesia officially sent a request for consultation on December 9, 2019 to the EU as the initial step for the lawsuit," said Trade Minister Agus Suparmanto in a statement.
Suparmanto said that the decision was made after assessing scientific studies and meeting with various businesses and associations involved in the palm oil sector.
“With this lawsuit, Indonesia hopes the EU can change their RED II and delegated regulation policies,” said Suparmanto.
Indonesia's Director General of Foreign Trade Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana said that the EU policy would also tarnish the image of palm oil globally, thus hurting the country's economy further.
Meanwhile, an official in neighbouring Malaysia, the world's second-largest palm oil producer, said to French news agency AFP that she was seeking a meeting with her counterparts in the EU before making a decision about whether her country would file a lawsuit or not.
"I want to give my trip a chance and see whether I can avoid filing the case at the WTO," said Teresa Kok, who oversees Malaysia's palm oil industry, of a visit to Europe in March.
Along with coal briquettes, palm oil is Indonesia's largest export. The industry has completely altered the landscape of Borneo and Sumatra over the past 50 years, with production soaring from 157,000 tonnes in 1964 to 41.5-million tonnes in 2018.
The intensity of the industry has not only caused widespread deforestation, the biome most responsible for global temperature regulation, but it has also brought species like Sumatran tigers and elephants, as well as orangutans, to the edge of extinction.
The industry also has connections with human rights abuses such as child labour, gender discrimination and worker exploitation, as well as having forced many people from their homes.
Palm oil is used in more than just biofuel. Some estimates say that it is contained in around 50% of consumer products, most notably chocolate and cosmetics.
Back to Homepage
Back to Energy & Utilities