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The Dutch ProductBoard for Margarine,Fats and Oils (MVO)has written a letter to the country’s foreign minister, Uri Rosenthal, asking the government to speed up its ban on the EU import duty tax on sustainable palm oil. The tax currently stands at 3.8% for all palm oil but if the tax was removed for sustainable imports then it would give an incentive to buyers to purchase palm oil that has... been sustainably sourced, MVO claims. In order for palm oil to be sustainable, it needs to be certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) which only approves environmental NGOs; banks and investors; growers; processors; manufacturers and retailers of palm oil products; and social NGOs if they can prove they have received or produced the palm oil through sustainable methods. In the past, palm oil was mainly used for food products and in 2006 could be found in one in 10 products sold in supermarkets within the UK. [read more]

It is fair to say that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of the centerpieces of the European integration process. Initially intended to secure food supply for the European citizen in sufficient quantities, the policy framework has since undergone several changes and adjustments. The main focus successively shifted from merely preventing the traumatising experience of severe food... shortages during and after World War II to becoming more environmentally friendly and open to international trade. The European Commission is currently preparing yet another reform of the CAP which should come into force in 2013. A first glance at the draft proposal, however, poses the question of whether the Commission really goes all the way to adapting to current challenges. It rather seems to propose counterproductive measures. Set-aside was introduced to limit cereals production in the EU and was initially applied on a voluntary basis from 1988/89. After the 1992 CAP reform, set-aside became obligatory and farmers had to exclude a certain amount of their declared areas in order to be eligible for EU support. The rate of obligatory setaside was initially decided every year but to simplify things it was set permanently at 10% in 1999/2000. In the wake of the last food price spikes in 2007/2008 the setaside rate was been set at 0% before being abolished all together in 2009. The obvious reflection behind this move was that the EU could not afford to force farmers to keep arable land out of production while the world was facing food shortages and skyrocketing food prices.  [read more]

Ethanol has always been a political fuel, and like a politician it has friends and enemies. Friends have included the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Corn Growers Association. Top opponents include the petroleum industry and livestock feeders – both have criticised, and lobbied against federal funding and legislation for ethanol. With... anticipation of a short corn crop this fall, opposition to ethanol’s growing place in US fuel stocks is stronger than ever. But alcohol fuel’s strong-suit is not necessarily the policy victories it won with the passage of the US Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2), which requires the use of 15 billion gallons of ethanol annually by 2015. Ethanol is cheap, and petrol wholesalers can make money blending it into their stocks, even without the assistance of the $0.45 (€0.33) per gallon Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) set to expire on 31 December. It is an important development and one that symbolises ethanol’s place in the US fuel portfolio - a low-cost petrol component with a value functioning on a level above its supporting mandates and subsidies. [read more]

There are many ways to convert biomass into cellulosic ethanol. The process Denmark-based Inbicon pioneered is simple and straightforward. Steam-cook a feedstock like corn stalks or wheat straw, mix with enzymes, ferment with yeast, and distill. Not-so-straightforward is the decade-plus path to commercialisation that has taken the company from experimenting at a lab bench in Denmark to planning a... 20mgy Biomass Refinery in a vast American corn field. Along the way the company licensed its technology to Mitsui for converting oil-palm fruit residue in southeast Asia, built a demonstration-scale refinery at Kalundborg, Denmark, and proved its process there at 4 tonnes per hour. [read more]