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Indonesia seeking support from IEA, IRENA on palm oil biofuels
EU legislators adopted in March a regulation that determines palm oil as a crop causing environmental harm.
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Agriculture Ministry Andi Amran Sulaeman fills a tractor with palm oil-based B100 biodiesel during the launch of the fuel use trial for vehicles operated by the Agriculture Ministry on April 15. (JP/ark)
T
he Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry is working to secure global recognition of Indonesian palm oil-based biofuels as a renewable energy source after the European Union categorized the product as unsustainable earlier this year.
The ministry's deputy minister Arcandra Tahar said he met representatives from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) at the four-day ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, which ended on Sept 6.
“We talked to the IEA, they don’t oppose [our biofuel]. I met the IRENA, they’re neutral... The one that opposes is the EU,” he told reporters in Jakarta on Friday.
EU legislators adopted in March a regulation that determines palm oil as a crop causing environmental harm, making palm oil-based biofuels ineligible for regional energy subsidies.
The regulation was like a slap in the face for the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (Gapki) because the EU, which imported 4.78 million tons of Indonesian palm oil last year, was its second-largest customer after India, which imported 6.71 million tons in the same period.
The stances of the IEA’s 30 members, which are mostly advanced economies, and the IRENA’s 160 members are slightly more complex than the deputy minister’s statement, according to publicly available documents.
