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The German government has announced that the use of palm oil in biofuel production will end in 20223. Biofuels International quoted this from an original report in Reuters on 23 September.
In its place, Germany would give a quota for minimum use of waste materials for biofuel production, according to the Reuters report. “For biofuels to be produced it is not acceptable to cut down woods, to dry up moorland and to destroy nature,” German environment minister Svenja Schulze was quoted as saying in a statement.
The announcement followed a move by the European Commission to tighten its rules on palm oil usage, according to the report, and major palm oil producers Malaysia and Indonesia were now taking the European Union to court over these restrictions.
In May, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) had agreed to a request from Malaysia to establish a panel to examine the EU move, saying the measure was discriminatory, the report said.
Under the EU's renewable energy directive (RED II), palm oil-based fuels are to be phased out by 2030.
Of about 3.4M tonnes of biodiesel produced in Germany in 2020, rapeseed oil made up about 60% of raw materials, used edible oils collected from food processors and restaurants around 25%, palm oil 3.9% and the rest was mainly soya oil, according to the German association of biofuel producers VDB.
Source: Online/KSU
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