JAKARTA – The new European Union (EU) deforestation regulation (EUDR) that has restricted the trading of palm oil could have triggered an impression that the Indonesian top commodity is environmentally problematic. But in fact, it has environmental functions, which include reducing greenhouse gas emissions as the focal point of global endeavors to tackle climate change problem.
Dadan Kusdiana, Director General of New, Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation at the ministry of energy and mineral resources (MEMR), said that Indonesia has used palm oil to produce biodiesel under its mandatory program of biodiesel 30 pe rcent (B30). The use of B30 has proven to be able to reduce the carbon emissions from the use of diesel fuels by around 50 – 60 percent. This year the government has scaled up the B30 mandatory program to B35 mandatory program, which has resulted in the increase of the green fuel use in the transportation sector.
“Compared to other fuels, the biodiesel is the best. It can reduce carbon emission by 62 percent compared to fossil diesel fuel. Now we’ve produced and used the B35. There have been many companies already established to produce it in Java, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi,” Dadan said during a webinar on Wednesday, 24 May 2023.
He pointed out that besides reducing carbon emissions, the oil palm trees have also proven to be able to absorb CO2. Based on the research conducted by the Forestry and Forest Product Research Institute, oil palm trees can absorb CO2 at the capacity of 25 tons per hectare per year compared to other trees which only have the absorption capacity of 6 tons per hectare per year.
Based on other researches, the oil palm trees are found to have been able to absorb 64.5 tons of CO2 per hectare per year. With a total acreage of Indonesia’s oil palm plantations at 14.38 million hectares, then at least 927.5 million tons of CO2 can be absorbed in the oil palm plantations.
“Considering those facts, we can say the oil palm trees are good for the environment as they can absorb CO2 more than the other trees can,” said Dadan.
He admitted the dark history of massive forest clearings in the past for many economic activities that include oil palm plantations. But he said Indonesia still has a very large forest area.
Dadan urged the oil palm companies and smallholders to get the sustainability certifications of Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil or the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) as a guarantee for their sustainability. “We also encourage the development of power plants based on the use of renewable energy derived from oil palm plantations. The palm oil sector has the potential capacity of power generation at 28,148 megawatt (MW). So far, total capacity of power plants generated with renewable energy from the palm oil sector had reached 874.57 MW,” he said.
Dwimas Suryanata, Oil Palm Sub-Coordinator under the plantation protection directorate at the agriculture ministry, said that the government has been continually pushing the oil palm growers to get the ISPO certification as part of sustainability compliance. “The sustainability compliance also includes an obligation for growers to expand their plantations at only derelict or degraded lands,” he said.
According to EU, the EUDR which has been adopted since 16 May 2023 is aimed to prevent deforestation caused by production of agricultural and forestry products, such as palm oil, coffee, beef, wood, cacao, rubber, and soybean. Those products are required to prove that they are deforestation-free before entering the EU market. But the palm oil producing countries saw it as a pretext to restrict palm oil in the European market. (*)
Source: REPUBLIKA.CO.ID
