Updated: Governments failing to clamp down on Malaysian biofuel

Environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth (FOE) has hit out at the failure of governments in the UK and Malaysia to adequately police the production of palm oil which it claims is leading to deforestation and contributing to climate change.

In a report released this week, Malaysian Palm Oil: Green Gold or Greenwash?, FOE claims that palm oil from the region is being processed into biofuel and ending up in UK petrol tanks despite serious concerns over its "carbon balance" and the amount of rainforest being cut down to produce it.

FOE biofuels campaigner Kenneth Richter said that governments and industry groups were failing to monitor and enforce standards around palm oil and biofuel in general. "Politicians talk about strict standards, but rainforests are still being ripped up to fill British petrol tanks," he said.

According to FOE, the government body charged with managing biofuel development in the UK, The UK Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA) has reported that Malaysian palm oil being used for fuel in the UK meets a "qualifying environmental standard". However, the environmental group maintains that Malaysian-sourced palm oil for biofuel is "far from green".

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was established in 2004 by commercial and public sector groups to monitor and agree standards around the sustainable use of palm oil.

However, some environmental groups have questioned how effective the new standard is proving, and the RFA has voiced concerns that some fuel suppliers could be claiming they have met RSPO standards when they have not as yet been correctly verified.

"We have challenged fuel suppliers to verify that the palm oil has truly met RSPO standards and some of them have rescinded their claims to RSPO certification while they investigate further," said RFA spokesman Chris Malins.

FOE has pointed out that in its first monthly study, the RFA reported that 100 per cent of Malaysian palm oil met a "qualifying environmental standard". However in its latest report, published this week, the RFA had adjusted that figure downward to just 47 per cent. "There is awareness that some of the fuel reported in the first month as meeting that standard could not be properly verified as sustainable and there is a note to that effect in the quarterly report," said Malins.

But despite some possible irregularities with the general reporting around Malaysian palm oil, Malins said the RFA was keen to support the RSPO.

"We are very keen to support the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. We benchmark these standards against our criteria and believe the RSPO is an appropriate standard and meets our criteria. One of the things that the FOE report is suggesting is that people might have claimed to have the RSPO criteria when that had not been strictly verified," he said.

Under the Road Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) programme, by 2010, five per cent of all fuel sold in UK forecourts will have to come from a renewable source.

In July this year, the RFA conducted an investigation into the indirect effects of biofuel use, which claimed that use of biofuels should be slowed until controls can be put in place to limit the impact on land use and increasing food prices. Led by the RFA's chairman, professor Ed Gallagher, the so-called Gallagher Review also concluded that if policies on biofuels were continued, they could result in a reduction in biodiversity and even an overall increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

"Our review makes it clear that the risks of negative impacts from biofuels are real and significant, but it also lays out a path for a truly sustainable biofuels industry in the future. The RFA will move on from this review to build a new consensus on the use of biofuels, and lead the UK industry into a sustainable future," professor Gallagher said in a statement at the time.