Eco-Business recently covered a landmark case about carbon emissions, renewable fuels and deforestation, where the World Trade Organization (WTO)
“… found fault with the way the European Union decided against accepting palm oil as a source of renewable energy. Although the international trade governance body agreed that it was valid for the EU to establish rules against crop-based fuels like palm oil due to the deforestation and emissions risks of indirect land use change (ILUC), it argued that the bloc had developed and implemented these rules in a way that constituted ‘arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination’ against trading partner Malaysia…
Malaysia, the world’s second largest producer of palm oil after Indonesia, argued that the EU had violated international trade rules when it decided on a cap and phase-out designed to limit the use of palm oil as a biofuel under the bloc’s second version of its Renewable Energy Directive (RED II).”
WTO’s report is here. Given Malaysia’s win here, will there be further attacks on EU policies that are intended to advance climate solutions? It wouldn’t surprise me.
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