The Clean Biofuel for All civil coalition is among the NGOs that are rallying against a number of B20 diesel fuel suppliers of state-owned energy giant Pertamina, whose rap sheet allegedly includes land clearing and triggering forest fires to make room for oil palm plantations in the region.

“We are currently monitoring the implementation of the B20 and B100 biofuel use policy, as well as improving public understanding of the biofuel supply chain,” said Afek, a representative of the Clean Biofuel for All coalition on the sidelines of a campaign in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Dec. 13, 2019.

Data from the coalition and the South Sumatra Green Circle Collective show that the forest fires that occurred throughout the year were the worst in the region since 2015. As of September, 361,857 hectares of land across the province were razed by forest fires, according to the South Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD).

Green Circle Collective researcher Hadi Jatmiko called on the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry to investigate the 10 palm oil companies that had been named the country’s primary suppliers of biodiesel. Five of said companies had yet to adhere to the No Deforestation, No Peat Development, and Exploitation (NDPE) policy, he said.

“Pertamina needs to come up with an environmental policy that prohibits biodiesel purchases from palm oil companies that are complicit in forest fires,” Hadi said.

Hadi, who had previously served as the director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) in South Sumatra from 2013 to 2017, said the five companies were foreign firms that had been named as suspects in a 2015 forest fire case, as well as enterprises that were shut down by the Environment and Forestry Ministry earlier this year.

“Unfortunately, the government still rolled out the red carpet for those palm oil companies through its B20 policy,” Hadi said.

Separately, South Sumatra Forestry Agency head Fakhrurrozi Rais said the province was home to over 1 million
ha of oil palm plantations with a total production capacity of 3.87 million tons. Fifty-nine percent of the plantations are owned by corporations, 25 percent are owned by plasma farmers and 16 percent are owned by smallholders, according to Fakhrurrozi.

He went on to say that the palm oil industry had indeed been the scapegoat for various issues related to the environment, land conflict and public health in the region. However, he said the government had clarified such accusations through several policies aimed at improving sustainability, such as the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification.

“That said, biofuel downstreaming has only been implemented by few companies,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pertamina said it appreciated Walhi’s advice related to the procurement of biodiesel. In principle, when selecting biodiesel suppliers, Pertamina uses the companies selected by the government through Ministerial Regulation No. 41/2018, the state oil and gas company said in a statement.

The regulation states that the principles of transparency, efficiency, fairness and sustainability should be taken into consideration. (rfa)

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