Author: Khalil Hegarty

Kalla takes on Europe Indonesian Vice-President has used the Belt and Road Forum (BRF) in Beijing to launch a broadside at the European Union – specifically over palm oil. In a leaders’ forum hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kalla stated that the EU’s policies are hampering Indonesia’s ability to achieve the UN Sustainable Development […]

GFW Forest Data for 2018: Room for Optimism Global Forest Watch has released its tree cover loss data for 2018. Although media reports have made much of the updated data – according to some, the world’s forests are in an ‘emergency room’ – there are some optimistic signs, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. It’s important to […]

China, Russia Deal With MY on Palm Malaysia and China are renegotiating an agreement on the country’s East Coast Rail Link (ECRL). The resumed negotiation process will be indirectly tied to an agreement by China to purchase more palm oil from Malaysia. China is Malaysia’s third-largest market for palm oil after India and the European […]

Memo from Brussels Delegations from Malaysia and Indonesia visited Brussels last week in order to make their positions clearer on the ban of palm oil from the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED). The delegations were led by Indonesia’s Economic Coordinating Minister Darmin Nasution and Malaysian Secretary General for the Ministry of Primary Industries Dato’ […]

RED gets even hotter Just when we thought it wasn’t possible for the RED issue to gain more traction, it has done precisely that. The Indonesian actions against imports of alcohol have caused major ructions in Brussels (more details on the measures themselves below). But, sources are telling us the following. First, President Juncker is […]

Indonesia blocks imports from the EU In a dramatic escalation in the war over palm oil, Indonesia has upped the stakes and this week tightened imports of European spirits as a direct response to the Renewable Energy Directive Delegated Act. According to various sources inside and outside government in Jakarta, Brussels and London, EU countries […]

Malaysia, Indonesia respond to the palm oil ban Both Malaysia and Indonesia have responded aggressively to the final version of the RED Delegated Act. This response isn’t surprising given that palm oil is ASEAN’s largest agricultural export, and Indonesia’s largest export across the board. The latest intel circulating in KL and Jakarta is that: PM […]

Analysing the Final Delegated Act: the Commission Doubles Down The European Commission has published its final version of the Delegated Act for the Renewable Energy Directive, as was expected. The text will now go to the Council of the EU and to the European Parliament. They have two months to consider the Act and how […]

Accompanying the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) draft Delegated Act released on 8th February 2019, the European Commission released its scientific report that attempted to determine which crops could be considered ‘high ILUC risk fuel’ feedstocks. The report isolates palm oil as the only feedstock crop that can be considered as presenting a high risk of […]

A Big Week in Brussels Last week was particularly busy for anyone dealing with the politics of palm oil in Brussels. Here’s an overview. The RED Delegated Act consultation closed The open consultation process for the RED Delegated Act closed. At last count, there were more than 60,000 submissions made in the process. Around 52,000 […]