Palm oil
WTO backs EU in palm oil dispute
The EU no longer wants to recognize biodiesel from palm oil as sustainable. The major exporter Indonesia has protested against this. Without success.
The European Union has won against Indonesia in a dispute over biodiesel from palm oil. The arbitration panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva ruled largely in the interests of the European Union.
The issue was whether it was legal for the EU to no longer recognize biodiesel from Indonesia as a renewable biofuel in 2030, as planned. The EU’s justification is that this is intended to stop the deforestation of forests for palm oil plantations. Indonesia and Malaysia consider this to be a trade distortion and are therefore suing the EU.
In the Malaysia case, the WTO arbitration tribunal had already largely ruled in favor of the EU in March 2024. The two countries supply almost the entire amount of palm oil and palm oil biodiesel worldwide.
It is the first time that WTO arbitrators have addressed measures to combat deforestation and consider products based on the risk of greenhouse gas emissions, WTO sources said. One of several arbitrators distanced himself from the majority opinion and wanted to prove Indonesia right.
As in the case of the complaint from Malaysia, the arbitrators only complained that some aspects of the new EU regulation violated WTO rules. The EU had already announced in March that it would adjust this accordingly.
dpa
Source: Stern
