Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the proposed EU ban on palm oil in biofuels to tackle global deforestation.

A rapid increase in palm oil production in the last decade has acted as a driver of deforestation and land use change, contributing to increased carbon emissions. The EU is seeking to correct this by restricting the extent to which crop-based biofuels can count towards renewable energy targets.

Palm oil has not been used in biofuel in the UK for several years and as such the Department has not made an assessment of the potential merits of the proposed EU restriction on use.

The UK is committed to supporting sustainable trade for key commodities associated with deforestation, including palm oil. We are signatory to the Amsterdam Declarations, have endorsed the New York Declaration on Forests, and are a member of the Tropical Forest Alliance 2020. All of these initiatives support action to prevent deforestation and encourage the sustainable production of key commodities.