THE palm oil industry has systematically ignored efforts to implement recommendations from environmental activists to reduce methane emission.
For years, advocates have lobbied to make it mandatory to build bio-gas facilities for new and expanding palm oil mills.
All good and well for new mills, but what about mills built before 2014? These older mills continue to operate unchanged with extremely dangerous levels of methane emission.
The Economic Transformation Plan (ETP) identified developing bio-methane facilities at palm oil mills as an Entry Point Project (EPP) to reduce methane emission through self-regulations, but self-regulation failed miserably, according to Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) Central Committee (Bureau for Environment & Climate Crisis) member Sharan Raj.
“At the end of 2019, less than 28% of palm oil mills had been equipped to reduce bio-methane,” he pointed out in a media statement. “In 2019, three new and 42 existing palm oil mills adopted bio-methane capture facilities.””
Although such rate seems promising, it will take 30 years to equip all palm oil mills with bio-gas capture technology.
“Undeniably, the palm oil industry has failed to self-regulate in terms of environmental perspective but continues to belittle science and evidence based environmental impact,” lamented Sharan.
“The Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) needs to accept that this is not ‘green-bashing’ but it is the reality of the palm oil industry to implement better labour and environmental standards.”
He was responding to allegations from the MPOA that the palm oil body has come under continuous “attacks”.
Palm oil mill emission (POME) was responsible for nearly 5% of national greenhouse gases (GHG) emission contributing to climate crisis, according to the Second Biennial Update Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2014.
In February, PSM had engaged with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) through the Ministry of Primary Industries by urging parties to impose a nationwide ban on the release of bio-methane from POME into atmosphere by January 2023.
Unfortunately, the palm oil industry reverted to “business as usual” with resurgence of Barisan Nasional-Perikatan Nasional who had refused to implement this simple recommendation, added Sharan. – Dec 16, 2020.
