Author: Khalil Hegarty

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 […]

POM Insight: Delegated Act Scientific Report The EU is attempting to do two things in the Delegated Act’s scientific report. First, it’s trying to provide the basis for ‘low-ILUC risk’ classification of biofuels.  In its previous assessments of whether low-ILUC certification was possible in 2017, its consultants referred to them as being in their infancy. […]

EXCLUSIVE: PM Mahathir’s letter on eve of Norway visit Norway’s Minister of Trade and Industry, together with EU officials, will be in Kuala Lumpur this week for a series of meetings with their Malaysian counterparts to discuss their countries’ recent measures to ban palm oil from its renewables programs. POM has obtained an exclusive copy […]

The EU’s draft Delegated Act for the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) was released last week after a flurry of activity in Brussels. The draft was released at the end of a week in which EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was drawn into the impasse between the EU’s Commissioners and directorates, following an intense discussion during […]

RED: A week on the edge The situation on the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) in Brussels last week reached something of a fever pitch. As noted in last week’s edition, there is significant tension within Brussels as to how to deal with the Delegated Act – the implementing regulation for the RED. The tension is […]

What is Happening to the EU-ASEAN Relationship?  The discontent between palm oil producers and the EU – which has been bubbling now for several years – has now broken into the open, with ASEAN allies lining up alongside Malaysia and Indonesia. Several events and news reports from recent days support the theory that recent EU […]

Two weeks ago, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir took the step of writing directly to French President Emmanuel Macron to protest the National Assembly’s Finance Bill – and the President signing it into law. The new law ‘declassifies’ palm oil under the country’s renewable energy scheme, meaning it will no longer receive a renewable energy subsidy. […]