Palm oil imports into Europe for use as car fuel increased by more than three-fold since 2006, raising concerns than renewable fuels targets may be contributing to deforestation, displacing marginalized communities, and driving greenhouse gas emissions in Southeast Asia, finds a new study published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).
The report, published today, finds that 80 percent of the European Union's increase in palm oil consumption between 2006 and 2012 was due to increased use for biofuel production. Use in food and cosmetics remain almost flat during the period.
Overall palm oil consumption by the EU-27 jumped 41 percent from 4.51 million tons in 2006 to 6.38 million tons in 2012. Palm oil consumption for biodiesel surged 365 percent from 402,000 tons to 1.87 million tons.
The Netherlands, the largest palm oil consumer in Europe, saw its use of palm oil for biofuels spike 9500 percent from 5,000 tons to 480,000 tons over the period.
At 300,000 metric tons in 2012, Germany is the second largest European consumer of biofuels for biodiesel consumption, followed by Italy (220,000 tons), Spain (200,000 tons), and Finland (200,000 tons). But Britain's palm oil consumption dropped 31 percent during the period.
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