Belgium joins the anti-palm oil declaration; bans the use of palm oil

Jakarta - Recently, the Belgian Government said it would impose a phase to ban the use of palm oil and soy-based biofuels in the country as part of an initiative to eliminate deforestation. Belgian Federal Minister of Environment and Climate, Zakia Khattabi said that the ban on the use of palm oil will be carried out in 2022, while the ban on soybeans will be carried out in 2023. Kattabi said stopping the use of palm oil and soybeans was the first step taken by Belgium since joining the Amsterdam Declarations Partnership, an agreement that aims to eliminate deforestation related to agricultural commodities by 2025. Belgium joins Denmark, France and the Netherlands as European countries banning palm oil-based biodiesel because it considers palm oil contributing to large-scale conversion of native forests and peatlands for industrial plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia. “This is the first step to stop the negative environmental impact of biofuel policies. The federal government ...