Course Intro : Future-Proofed Palm Oil Summit & Exhibition 2021

Dismantling Barriers, Revitalising Preference

 

What is required to dismantle barriers and revitalise preference?

 

It started off with critics unassumingly linking palm oil to heart diseases that was then truced after counter-arguments based on scientific evidences. Then came the claim that palm oil is a primary contributor to deforestation. Followed by the European Union voting for the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive II regulatory framework to phase-out palm oil biodiesel from 2021 in favour of soybean and rapeseed derived biodiesel.

 

Whilst the cloud is still hanging, the US government has stopped the entry of palm oil consignments coming from two of the world’s largest producers, under the pretext of forced labour. The denied entry is already fueling deep concerns among the global industry players, concerned that this ruling may influence other major export destinations to follow suit. Of late, there has been a resurgence of anti-palm oil campaigns, even at school level, associated with the disappearance of orang utans to palm oil expansion. Even though there have been existing legislations to protect and prohibit the oil palm cultivation expansion under existing conservation programs, these never seem to be enough.

 

What is clear is the negative narratives against oil palm began after palm oil displaced soybean oil from the top spot. Despite being certified to the relevant criteria on GHG emission, biodiversity and labour, the palm oil industry is constantly being harassed and penalized. The industry is beginning to be suspicious of a hidden agenda behind all such rulings – a trade wolf in green sheep clothing?

 

Is it high time for the palm oil industry to take a more proactive and aggressive position in dispelling such baseless claims by the competitors? Is it time for the concerned certification bodies to come forward to defend palm oil, dispelling all the allegations? What would be the impact of the legal actions filed by Malaysia and Indonesia with the World Trade Organization against the European Union’s restrictions on palm oil biodiesel?

 

Continuing from the discussion on future proofing palm oil initiative last year, the FPPO2021 will further address the following areas:-

• Is there a middle ground in resolving the trade ban impasse?

• What is the potential impact and complication on the litigation filed against the EU on palm oil biofuel bans?

• How the industry can further enhance Carbon Neutrality practices to gain back favour?

• How to drive new strategies to develop new income while going carbon neutral with palm oil wastes.

• Where to implement energy efficiency technologies to lower or eliminate carbon footprint in oil palm processing?

• How to recover, rebound, rebrand and reimage under the post-pandemic?

• How do we break the hidden yield deadlock without hectarage expansion?

• How labour saving technologies will reduce palm oil’s addiction to manual labour?

 

 

 An Introduction of FPPO2021