PUTRAJAYA – Malaysia will maintain the status quo on its biodiesel mandate, said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin.
She said her ministry has assured the Malaysian Biodiesel Association that it is all ears to the group’s proposal that Malaysia should retain the existing mandate.
The association has highlighted why Malaysia should not reduce or stop the mandate as the biodiesel industry has hardly consumed one million tonnes of palm oil annually, as opposed to over 40 million tonnes used globally, saying that any knee-jerk reaction to banning biofuels derived from vegetable oils would cause havoc in the global vegetable oil market.
Zuraida in a statement today said that the ministry would also remain committed to implementing Malaysia’s National Biofuels Policy (NBP), which was rolled out in March 2006.
The NBP remains committed to reducing the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) rate, in line with the country’s aspiration towards achieving a GHG emissions reduction target of 45% of gross domestic product by 2030.
It is also committed to expanding the use of downstream palm oil products and becoming an initiative to increase the income of oil palm smallholders through palm oil market price control mechanisms, as well as reducing the country’s dependence on fossil fuels as one of the energy security initiatives, she said. – Bernama, June 2, 2022
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