KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 — Malaysia wants to standardise the way palm oil’s impact on the environment is calculated, senior officials said today, as it seeks to counter criticism that the industry fuels climate change.
Next year the European Union, a top biofuels consumer, will impose a target to only accept biodiesel that can reduce CO2 emissions by at least 35 per cent versus fossil fuel, which risks cutting out palm oil which the EU considers to save only 19 per cent.
“We are willing to let the EU scrutinise our system,” Malaysian Palm Oil Board Chairman Sabri Ahmad told Reuters at the sidelines of a regional conference. “We should be the ones coming up with the standard, since we know palm oil best and we have nothing to lose.”
Officials say there is no clear timetable when Malaysia will present its own system to compute palm oil’s greenhouse gas savings, although a major government-sponsored study due to be presented next month will form the basis.
Environmentalists say the rapidly growing palm oil sector is not only responsible for the loss of vast areas of tropical forests that soak up carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, but emits warming gases during processing.
Sabri said a major saving could come through capturing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, produced during the processing of palm oil fruit bunches. Flammable methane can be burned to produce electricity on-site.
A tonne of crude palm oil can produce anything from 400 to 900 kilogrammes of methane, analysts say.
LIMITED USE IN EU
Based on current studies, palm oil’s greenhouse gas savings range from 19 per cent to 72 per cent over fossil fuels, making it difficult to decide on a standard value for the tropical oil, said Malaysian Palm Oil Council Chief Executive Tan Sri Yusof Basiron.
That becomes a problem for governments wanting to draft biofuel legislation.
Malaysia’s palm oil industry has long wanted to export its biofuels to the European Union, which has made big investments in the biofuel sector. But palm biodiesel’s use has been limited.
“The low and erroneous values would be used to the advantage of detractors, who accuse the industry of not being sustainable, as is happening at the moment,” Yusof told the conference.
So far, studies conducted by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board show that palm oil with methane capture at mills can achieve 62 per cent greenhouse gas savings, Yusof said.
“Further greenhouse gas savings can be expected from the Malaysian palm oil industry as the lifecycle assessment of palm oil production determined that methane emission contributes to 51 per cent of its emissions,” Yusof said.
Lifecycle calculations also include the amount of carbon saved by displacing the use of ordinary fossil fuels.
Efforts are under way to equip Malaysia’s palm oil mills with methane capturing technology, Yusof said.
Only 4 per cent of the Southeast Asian country’s mills have been equipped, officials say. — Reuters
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Despite palm oil's extremely efficient tonnage per acre, they still use debunked facts such as rainforest clearing as a negative point when in Malaysia, we are using existing land converted from rubber use.
Keep fighting for our methodology for carbon emissions! Malaysia must not be bullied by the original polluters of this planet, the developed world.