Belgium will ban biofuels made from soy and palm oil from 2022 onward as part of its effort to combat deforestation, said Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Zakia Khattabi on Tuesday. In making the move, Belgium joins Denmark, France, and the Netherlands as other European nations that have barred palm oil-based biodiesel due the crop’s association with large-scale conversion of native forests and peatlands for industrial plantations, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia. The ban was the first measure Belgium has taken since it became a member of the Amsterdam Declaration Partnership, which aims to eliminate deforestation from agricultural commodities by 2025. Belgium will ban biofuels made from soy and palm oil from 2022 onward as part of its effort to combat deforestation, said the European nation’s Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Zakia Khattabi on Tuesday. “These fuels have little or no advantage over conventional fossil fuels from a climate point of view, but lead to deforestation, loss of biodiversity and even human rights violations,” Khattabi said in a statement. Deforestation for an oil palm plantation in Indonesia’s Papua Province in 2019. Photo credit: Microsoft Zoom.Earth Khattabi said consumption of palm oil-based biodiesel in Belgium increased tenfold between […]
Click here to view original web page at Belgium bans biofuels made from palm oil, soy
