“WELCOME RELIEF”
Countries including Malaysia and Indonesia have vocally opposed the new rules and the chorus of criticism grew louder as the December implementation deadline neared, with Brazil and the United States among those voicing concern.
Malaysia’s Palm Oil Council welcomed the proposed delay as a “victory for common sense”.
The decision is a “welcome relief for all those businesses who highlighted the need for a delay,” the body’s head Belvinder Kaur Sron said.
“Malaysia has over the past two years consistently provided evidence … that the implementation date of Dec 30, 2024 was unworkable, and the EU systems were not ready,” the council added in a statement.
It called for the EU to address outstanding demands, including exemptions for smallholders, clear benchmarking criteria and accepting Malaysia’s sustainable palm oil standard.
In Indonesia, the country’s leading palm oil association also welcomed the delay.
“Our calls have been listened to,” said its chairman Eddy Martono, who also urged the EU to accept Indonesian sustainability standards and recognise its anti-deforestation efforts.
Palm oil is one of Indonesia’s top commodity exports, but also a key driver of deforestation.
The country lost nearly 300,000ha of primary forest in 2023, an uptick from the previous year, though still down from the 2016 peak, according to Global Forest Watch.
Indonesian environmentalists warned that the EU delay was likely to mean more unchecked deforestation.
“We can’t imagine how much more land-clearing or deforestation the one-year delay could cause in West Kalimantan and other places like Papua,” said Uli Arta Siagian at Indonesian environmental group WALHI.
Uli acknowledged challenges in implementing the rules, but said there was no guarantee a year-long delay would fix those.
“It should have been implemented, and then the EU could see what needs to be corrected,” she told AFP.
“For us, this decision is disappointing.”
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