Author: Pierre Bois d’Enghien

Nestle: Who Needs Greenpeace? Greenpeace’s action against Wilmar and other firms has highlighted the work being undertaken by Nestle and The Forest Trust in conjunction with Airbus. The ‘Starling’ program that the three entities have put together relies on decades of historical satellite imaging and new monitoring data. Theoretically, in combination with better palm oil […]

The first two blogs in this series looked at how the ‘high carbon stock’ idea has been introduced into both European regulation (under the Renewable Energy Directive) and into private sector (the High Carbon Stock Approach and the Sustainable Palm Oil Manifesto). This piece will look at how and whether the various approaches to HCS […]

Has the EU Predetermined ‘High Risk’ Biofuels? The EU’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Vincent Guérend, has raised eyebrows in the region by stating that the EU will phase out palm-oil based biofuels by 2030, according to comments reported in the Jakarta Post. The problem with his comments is simple: the compromise text for the revised Renewable […]

Indonesia Tries Another Moratorium The Indonesian government has said that it has put in place a presidential instruction that halts new palm oil developments for three years. Various environmental groups have welcomed the announcement, but it should be viewed with a degree of scepticism. First, it’s a presidential instruction or ‘inpres’. This means it is […]

In our last piece we analysed High Carbon Stock as it is understood by two key stakeholders in the palm oil debate: the European Commission, and NGOs such as Greenpeace. This week we examine the alternative approach to HCS that was backed by a large number of industry players, particularly from Malaysia. After the High […]

COMMENTARY: Is the GAR spat putting the HCS Group at risk? The Golden-Agri Resources-Greenpeace spat has escalated since we wrote about it briefly last week. To recap, GAR appeared to be losing patience with anti-palm oil campaigners, particularly in Europe. This anti-palm sentiment was underlined by Greenpeace’s overtly anti-palm oil ‘Rang Tan’ video. Since then, […]

The new IUCN Report Oil Palm and Biodiversity has generated a considerable response in both the French and English media. This includes outlets such as The Guardian and Le Figaro. Unfortunately, the coverage has simply repeated the reductive language of the executive summary, instead of examining the actual findings. Many of the findings in the […]

The Haze Season Campaign Begins The end of the dry season is approaching in Southeast Asia. For many countries it also represents the beginning of the haze season. The haze season is often a rallying point for anti-palm oil groups; that will particularly be the case this year as the EU looks for ways to […]

Is GAR attacking Greenpeace? Golden Agri Resources appears to have lost its patience with the ‘no palm oil’ campaigns in the European Union. Its sustainability lead, Anita Neville, told Food Navigator: “If you claim that you are not using palm oil because you are concerned about deforestation, and you are replacing it with animal fat […]

Investors lobby RSPO: Why didn’t they just join? A group of investors sent a letter to RSPO last week, calling on the certification body to implement tighter standards on deforestation. More specifically, they wrote to the Principles and Criteria Review Task Force, calling on it to recommend implementation of HCSA assessments for new plantings under […]