KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has agreed to nominate experts to sit in a European Commission (EC) panel that could impact future use of plam oil as part of the biofuel mix in Europe.
Primary Industries minister Teresa Kok said she welcomes this initiative, which will allow cross consultation with palm oil producers, including Malaysian palm oil experts on various key scientific principles under Indirect Land Use Change (ILUC).
“This consultation process is important as we do not want our palm oil commodity to be discriminated upon,” said Kok, who is leading a palm oil mission in Switzerland, Spain and Belgium.
She is accompanied by officials from the ministry, Malaysian Palm Oil Board, Malaysian Palm Oil Council, Malaysian Palm Oil Certification Council and Forest Research Institute of Malaysia.
The delegation held meetings the European Commissioner for Environment Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Karmenu Vella; Environment, Education, Transport and Energy of the Council of the European Union director-general Dr Jaroslaw Pietras; and the European External Action Services Asia Pacific managing director Gunnar Wiegand.
In a statement, the ministry said ILUC is generally not supported by industry and academic experts since the principles upon which it is based is fraught with unproven assumptions.
Indeed, the very basis of defining the concept of ILUC has not been universally verified, even within the EU.
It said Malaysia’s concern is that this could determine the future use of palm oil as part of the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED) II mandate despite the uncertainty surrounding ILUC.
“An expert panel from the European Commission will be visiting Malaysia at the end of this month to hold discussions with Malaysian experts on these issues. Our experts will sit in the panel,” added Kok.
She also stressed that it was extremely important for the EU Expert Panel to get a firsthand account of Malaysian palm oil cultivation and processing practices so that they appreciate the complexity of various operations executed to produce sustainable palm oil.
She said the move was positive in light of concerns that EU might use ILUC criteria to justify phasing out or restricting palm oil in the RED II mandate.
“Malaysia is willing to listen and actively participate in any debate on ILUC. However, we stress that this should not be lopsided against palm oil and even other crops.
“If the criteria that defines ILUC are not based on well-accepted scientific principles, Malaysia will use various international fora and trade negotiations to secure a just outcome for our palm oil exports,” she said.