JAKARTA – The policy of European Union (EU) to reduce the consumption of palm oil from Southeast Asia has driven up the use of soybean, which has accelerated the deforestation in South America.
It is a conclusion from a study publicized on Monday, 05 July 2021, that there has been a worsening condition of ecological damages caused by EU’s consumption of vegetable oils based biofuel. The study reported that the production of biodiesel from vegetable oils–mostly soybean, rapeseed and sunflower, had cleared forests at the size of Netherlands during the last decade.
In their study, researchers from the green organization of Transport and Environment (T&E) analyzed data of biodiesel production and consumption from three statistics institutions: Oil World, Stratas Advisors, and Eurostat.
Based on their analysis, the biodiesel consumption of EU needs oil palm plantations at the size of 1.1 million hectares in Southeast Asia and soybean plantations at the size of 2.9 million hectares in South America.
It is considered as an irony as it occurred following the decision of the EU to gradually reduce the use of palm oil for the production of biodiesel until 2030. T&E concludes that instead of reducing deforestation, the EU policy has only relocated the deforestation from Southeast Asian region to South America region.
According to T&E, the consumption of soybean for biodiesel production increased by 17% during 2020, while the consumption of palm oil for biodiesel production only rose by 4.4 percent.
The study said that since 2018, the soybean contribution to EU energy system rose from 34% to 44%, which was merely driven up by the biodiesel production. “This trend is problematic as it is potential to emerge as a new palm oil,” the researchers reported.
New EU Policy
The soybean caused lower emission than that of palm oil. But its total amount is still two times higher than that of the fossil fuels if counted the forest damages directly and indirectly.
The current expansion of soybean plantations has increased deforestation in Amazon area of Brazil, worsening the South American ecosystem. The forest damage has not only caused emissions, but has also negated its biggest asset to absorb the greenhouse gases.
If the EU does not change its biodiesel policy, it will cause additional emissions at 173 million tons from soybean and palm oil in 2030, according to the T&E report.
By 2020, the EU obliged the use of 10 percent renewable energy for transportation. As a result, the consumption of biodiesel rose by 1.3% in 2020.
Until 2030, the EU has planned to increase the use of renewable energy up to 25% in 2030, of which 5.1% will be derived from the vegetable oils.
The palm oil issue has strained the relationships between the EU and Indonesia and Malaysia, which are the world’s largest producers of palm oil. The two countries insisted that the EU stance to accuse palm oil as the cause of forest damage is only part of the black campaign against the palm oil and potential to cause trade war.
On 14 July 2021, the EU is scheduled to issue a new package of climate policy, which is seen certain to mainly deal with vegetable oils-based biofuel. (*)
source: dw.com | Featured image via devigoblog.lecturer.umi.ac.id
