Deeply worried by the devastating impact on the environment by the massive and rapid development of cultivation of palm oil across the globe, MEPs on the Parliament’s environment committee sounded the alarm on Thursday 9 March, calling on the EU to provide itself with a range of measures to halt this scourge of tropical forests, ecosystems, biodiversity and local inhabitants whose livelihoods are closely linked to these ecosystems and the climate.
The report by Katerina Konecna (GUE/NGL, Czech Republic), which was adopted by the overwhelming majority of 56 votes to 1, with no abstentions, highlights that, in 30 years, palm oil has become one of the main causes of the loss of tropical rain forests and that 45% of the palm oil imported by the EU is for the production of biofuels.
MEPs call first and foremost for a phasing out of the use of palm oil as a component of biodiesel by 2020 and for a single certification system to ensure that only sustainably produced palm oil can be imported into the EU. The use of palm oil has more than doubled since 2010. It can now be found in a variety of products such as margarine, chocolate spread, crisps, but also in detergent and biofuel, for example.
“The European Union is one of world’s largest consumers of palm oil. We want an open debate with all stakeholders to ensure sustainable production which doesn’t require the destruction of the forests and which safeguards human rights. We cannot ignore the question of deforestation which poses a threat to the global climate agreement and the universal sustainable development goals”, said Konecna.
MEPs call for sustainability criteria to be introduced for palm oil and for products containing palm oil imported into the EU and for the Commission to include environmental measures in trade agreements to prevent palm oil-related deforestation.
The European Parliament will vote on the report at its plenary session 3-6 April. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)