BRUSSELS, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The
European Commission has approved a scheme that would certify as sustainable
transport fuel made from palm oil, condemned by environmental groups as one of
the most damaging sources of biodiesel.
The Commission made public on
Tuesday a decision taken last week to endorse the Roundtable on Sustainable
Palm Oil scheme, which means the palm oil producers it licenses can qualify for
subsidies.
"Palm oil is driving
deforestation, wildlife loss, community conflicts, and accelerating climate
change. Instead of greenwashing palm oil, the EU should outright ban its use as
a biofuel," said Robbie Blake, biofuels campaigner at Friends of the Earth
Europe.
Concern that some biofuels create
more problems than they solve led to a major policy shift in September when the
EU executive announced a proposal to limit how much biodiesel and bioethanol
could be made from food crops.
Last month, it announced new rules
to encourage a shift away from first-generation biofuels, blamed for stoking food
price inflation, forcing forest clearance and draining of peat land. The aim is
to move towards a second generation of fuels made from waste or algae, for
instance.
The Commission's own research has
shown palm oil has the highest emissions of any biofuel when so-called ILUC
factors - the indirect land use change caused by using it for fuel - are
considered.
"Emissions from peat conversion
have a larger impact on the overall emissions attributed to oil crops,
particularly for palm oil, than for bioethanol crops," a Commission
document released in October said.
The roundtable is an association of
hundreds of palm oil growers, processors, traders and distributors, as well as
some non-governmental organisations working in palm-oil producing nations, such
as Indonesia and Malaysia.
Commission spokeswoman Marlene
Holzner said the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil scheme had been judged
"suitable."
She added that the EU's Renewable
Energy Directive already prohibits the destruction of forests to grow palm oil
or other biofuel crops.