I

ndonesian palm oil may still have the opportunity to join the renewable fuel program in the United States, which will increase exports of the commodity to the world’s energy market.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was currently assessing the latest scientific data on greenhouse emissions generated from palm oil production, including those submitted by Indonesian palm oil businesses and the government, US Ambassador to Indonesia Scot Marciel said on Tuesday in Jakarta.

“The EPA is looking very much on a scientific basis. If they need to fix the threshold, they’ll approve it. But if they don’t, they won’t,” he said at a press gathering.

Earlier in January, the agency said in its regulatory filing that palm oil-based biodiesel only cuts greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent, which falls short of the 20 percent threshold set to be qualified by the US renewable fuel program.

Indonesia, the world’s biggest palm oil producer, formally challenged the agency’s greenhouse gas analysis in May when growers submitted an analysis that showed palm oil biofuel could reduce emissions by up to 50 percent.

The Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil Commission also filed a similar analysis, citing a greenhouse gas reduction of 40 to 60 percent based on a method carried out in accordance with European Union (EU) rules.

Marciel declined to comment on measures that the US would take to ease import barriers for Indonesian crude palm oil (CPO) as a trade off for Indonesia’s acceptance of a list of environmental goods to get import duty reduction, agreed during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministerial meeting in Russia last week.

Indonesian palm oil has not been included on a list of 54 kinds of eco-friendly goods approved by APEC members. Debunking local media reports, Marciel said that the standards set by the EPA were not a trade barrier to imports of palm oil from Indonesia.

Separately, Agriculture Ministry perennial crop director Rismansyah Danasaputra said that representatives from the EPA were scheduled to visit Indonesia for a field assessment next month as part of its efforts to validate the data.

According to Rismansyah, Indonesia and the US still had differing opinions on the calculations of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly because the EPA assumed an increase in palm oil output required opening new plantations.

“The US may not have taken into account that we have quite advanced seeds, and to boost output, we can increase productivity in the same plantation areas without necessarily expanding” he said.

The agency earlier said that its carbon estimation for palm oil biofuel was partly based on the possible “incremental expansion” of palm oil plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia, which provide 90 percent of the world’s palm oil supply, to produce 1.5 million kiloliters of biofuel for the US by 2022. In fulfilling this demand, both countries may generate almost 2 million tons of carbon dioxide per year over 30 years from clearing peatswamps and forests to expand plantations, it said.

Indonesia has in recent years tried producing palm oil in a more sustainable way after extensive deforestation occurred due to the massive expansion of plantations.