Palm Oil Producers Take Stand on EU’s ILUC Standard

JAKARTA--The Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) will take a stand on European Union’s policy for the latest installment of the saga surrounding Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC) criteria.

CPOPC believes that ILUC criteria has a potential discriminative implications, given the fact that the ILUC is drafted based on EU’s and US’s perspective only and ignores palm oil producers’ interest. The issues of ILUC and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) that will negatively affect palm oil industry has been concerned members of CPOPC countries greatly in a latest meeting in Cartagena, Colombia (26/9/2018).

On the press release, Tuesday (2/10/2018), Executive Director of CPOPC Mahendra Siregar said that CPOPC will always criticize the EU Commission, particularly if ILUC is included in the criteria to make decision concerning palm oil-based biodiesel use in the EU.

Among the many problems associated with ILUC methodology is that it has proven time and time again to be unworkable and not based on scientific fact. CPOPC is worried that ILUC is used only to protect their trade commodities, especially to inhibit palm oil trade in Europe. Concern for this issue is growing amid negative campaign against palm oil.

“ILUC could be detrimental to palm oil’s competitiveness to other vegetable oil in Europe,” Mahendra added. ***