A European Union ambassador has said the bloc will stick to its stance on phasing out palm oil-based biofuels by 2030 despite Indonesia’s commitment to renew long-term measures aimed at ensuring the commodity will not be harmful to the environment.

EU Ambassador to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam Vincent Guérend said in Jakarta on Thursday that the union lauded the government’s recent decision to revisit the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification scheme, as the move represented a concrete step in raising awareness on environmentally and socially conscious palm oil
production.

The government is drafting a presidential regulation to allow independent certification bodies to issue certificates and make ISPO certification mandatory for plasma farmers.

ISPO certification is mandatory for all large crude palm oil producers in Indonesia and voluntary for smallholders, also known as plasma farmers, as stipulated by Agriculture Ministerial Regulation No. 11/2015 on ISPO certification.

Guérend also praised a recent presidential regulation that mandates a moratorium on the issuance of new concessions for oil palm plantations in primary forests and peatland.

However, he said, such measures had not yielded sufficient results that would compel the EU to reconsider its proposed prohibition on palm oil use.

“The government’s efforts, such as the land moratorium and company certification through the ISPO mechanism, are merely the first steps toward sustainability in the industry,” Guérend said on the sidelines of a seminar held by the European Business Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia, supported by business analysis firm Tenggara Strategics.

While the EU appreciated such policies, Guerend said there was still much work to be done to ensure proper practices.

“Provided the country succeeds in ensuring sustainable palm oil supply chains, we would be willing to reconsider the commodity’s eligibility in the EU market after 2030,” Guérend said.

Riyadi Suparno, executive director of Tenggara Strategics, said efforts to boost the industry’s sustainability should also take into account social issues plaguing smallholders.

“Smallholders have difficulties in understanding existing certification systems such as the ISPO. This makes them vulnerable to predatory business practices by middlemen,” Riyadi said.

The country’s oil palm plantation area increased to 12.3 million hectares in 2017 from 11.9 million ha in 2016, data from the Agriculture Ministry shows. Private companies own 53.12 percent of the oil palm plantation area, while smallholders and the government own 33.88 and 7.55 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, EU councillor for climate change and environment Michael Bucki said he was unable to predict the viability of the government’s initiatives as the EU had not been given the details on the proposed decree on the ISPO.

Previously, the European Commission, European Parliament and EU member states had agreed to increase renewable energy use in Europe. The regulatory framework extends the deadline for palm oil used in transportation by nine years to 2030 from the previous deadline of 2021.

The agreement also set criteria for the certification of two types of crop-based biofuels in relation to indirect risk in the change of land-use, by distinguishing fuels that have high risk from those with low risk.

It is expected that the European Commission will release a report in February 2019 on the status of expansion of relevant food and feed crop production worldwide and set out in a delegate act the criteria for the certification of acceptable biofuels.

Bucki said the EU had since held extensive discussions on sustainability concerns with the Coordinating Economic Ministry, Environment and Forestry Ministry and Agriculture Ministry.

“Furthermore, we’ve also worked with the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space to further develop remote-sensing data, so we will be able to monitor the development of oil palm plantations more accurately,” he said. (rfa)

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