25 Mar 2019 (The Star Online) FEW would dispute that climate change is a threat to sustainable development. The uncontrolled rise in greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide, has raised alarm bells throughout the world. Scien­tists have warned that a temperature rise beyond 2°C would be catastrophic for us all.

The latest United Nations climate report suggests that world temperatures are slowly inching towards a 1.5°C rise. The UN continues to urge countries to take actions to mitigate global warming. Climate action is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. An earlier report by Lord Stern of Britain also warned of dire economic consequences for the world, the longer we delay the mitigation actions.

Reaching global consensus on climate actions has not been easy either. The earlier Paris agreement, which promises positive actions in the fight against climate change, is yet to be fully activated. The United States, which many see as pivotal to the success of the agreement, now even considers climate change science doubtful under President Donald Trump. Many climate scientists are rattled.

The United States is not alone, though. Australia, which is also a key player, struggles to embrace climate change. An earlier attempt to introduce a legally-binding carbon exchange scheme in the country was prematurely aborted after strong objections by some industries. China is different. New measures to fight climate change have become laws there. They are now on a journey to increase the share of renewable energy in their energy mix.

The European Union has always shown strong commitment to climate actions. The Renewable Energy Directive establishes an overall policy for the production and promotion of energy from renewable sources in the EU. It requires the EU to fulfil at least 20% of its total energy needs with renewables by 2020. This is to be achieved through the attainment of individual national targets.

All EU countries must ensure that at least 10% of their transport fuels come from renewable sources by 2020. The bloc has introduced many legally binding measures to counter the rise in greenhouse gases.

Our concern is how such directives are implemented to avoid discrimination among the renewables.

Palm-based biofuel is a renewable. But the EU has come out with concepts such as land use change, and indirect land use change to further discriminate between the renewables. They claim palm biofuel does not meet the criteria of renewables under such terms, since replacing forests with oil palms reduces the capacity of the forests to absorb greenhouse gases, therefore exacerbating global warming.

Their claim is, however, highly debatable because the data they present are not substantiated. The real information on the ground is otherwise. In Malaysia, the logging of forests is to harvest timber. It is not intended to clear land to plant oil palms. All oil palm growing takes place on land earlier planted either with rubber or coconut – not through deliberate deforestation.

Furthermore, Malaysia has never wavered from the promise that we keep at least 50% of our land under forest cover. Now, close to 60% is under forests.

That decision by the EU has strengthened earlier concerns that climate change also has the potential to disrupt free trade. Many are worried that countries might resort to non-tariff barriers in the name of climate change. There are now signs that this might actually become a reality with the EU, a major world economic bloc.

Such an act is a big mistake. A crop that uses much less land to provide the world with a highly affordable edible oil is blamed for deforestation. They would rather opt for oils coming from their own less productive crops such as soybean and rapeseed.

To me, a more logical move would be to work closely with palm oil producers to sort out the concerns rather than depend on third parties. This can be better achieved through a G-to-G (government to government) arrangement.

It would be retrogressive for the world if palm oil, which many have recognised as the most productive oil crop in the world, is given such unfair treatment under the guise of climate change.

The EU must come to its senses if it is truly committed to climate actions and fair trade.

PROF DATUK DR AHMAD IBRAHIM

Fellow, Asean Academy of Engineering & Technology,

UCSI University

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2019/03/25/ban-smacks-of-unfair-trade/#J5CR7Guhdd7iPs5U.99