At this year’s UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), Indonesia committed to gradually reducing its greenhouse gas emissions after reaching peak emissions in 2030. At the same time, Indonesia promised to end deforestation in the same year. However, this goal was later refuted by the Indonesia Minister of Environment who indicated that this would violate Indonesia’s internal development plan. Indonesia’s palm oil industry is not only intricately linked to Indonesia’s carbon emissions and environmental conservation but is also key to Indonesia’s economic development.
Trailing behind Brazil and the United States, Indonesia is an important biofuel producer and the largest producer of biodiesel. Biofuel comes from plants and livestock manure. Biofuel supporters believe, after extracting and refining plant essences into fuel, even if burning this fuel creates carbon dioxide, it is only releasing the carbon previously absorbed by the plant’s photosynthesis back into the atmosphere. In theory, this can be carbon neutral and, thus, biofuel has always been regarded as an alternative to traditional fossil fuels
However, if deforestation is needed to plant palm trees, corn, soybeans and other raw material crops for biofuels, causing environmental damage and impacting biodiversity, even if there is a contribution to the economy, doing this is still putting the cart before the horse. Biofuels are primarily refined from palm oil. Indonesia is the world’s largest palm oil producer and exporter. The Indonesian government also stipulates that diesel fuel must be mixed with at least 30% biofuel, increasing to 50% by 2025. Considering that the number of vehicles in Indonesia increases by 6% annually, the production of biofuels in the next three years will need to increase by nearly 50% to meet demand.
Carbon emitted by Indonesia’s transportation sector accounts for 13.6% of the country’s emissions and 45% of energy consumption. The government believes that through its carbon reduction policy, carbon dioxide can be reduced by 36 million tons by 2040. However, this requires a large amount of land to grow “raw materials” for biofuel, as much as an additional 1.2 million hectares which is approximately one quarter of the land Indonesia has currently allocated to planting palm trees.
Currently, the Indonesian government is trying to implement sustainable forest management but the ban on palm plantations has yet to be extended. The Indonesian government issued the ban in 2018 and it was ended on September 19, 2021. During this time, there have been reports of palm growers resorting to arson in order to open up land for planting palm.
Who has the final say on the definition of deforestation?
At COP26, Indonesia pledged to end deforestation by 2030. However, Indonesian Minister of Environment Siti Nurbaya Bakar reneged on this commitment after returning to his country. He spoke out on Twitter saying this promise was “neither appropriate nor fair,” development plans cannot be carbon neutral, the topic of deforestation should be tabled, and it is very unfair to use European standards to regulate Indonesia since different countries have different definitions of the term "deforestation." The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia Mahendra Siregar also pointed out, “ending deforestation by 2030” was not a part of the climate conference commitment but instead it is meant to ensure no net loss of forest land.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo also stated in October that Indonesia has restored several hectares of forest.
Global Forest Watch believes, in addition to palm trees, Indonesia actually has approximately 50 to 60 more environmentally friendly plants including candlenut and coconut that can be used in biofuel. However, Febry Calvin Tetelepta, an official at the Office of the President of Indonesia, pointed out, compared with crops such as sunflowers and soybeans, palm oil is indeed the most effective way to produce biofuel. Palm requires less land to produce the same amount of oil biomass when compared to other plants.
Other countries are also aware of the deforestation issue associated with palm trees. Germany, the fourth largest biofuel producing country, will no longer use palm oil in the production of biodiesel starting from 2023. The European Commission has also resolved to phase out palm oil by 2023. After 2030, traditional transportation biofuel will no longer use palm oil as a raw material.
（Image：Flickr/Craig Morey CC BY-SA 2.0 ）