The report Driving Deforestation: The Impact of Expanding Palm Oil Demand through Biofuel Policy looks at the current demand and potential 2030 demand for palm oil from biofuel policies in key countries and in the aviation industry. It presents low, medium and high scenarios for the role of 2030 biofuel production in increasing demand for palm oil, and based on these scenarios presents estimates of the likely impact of this biofuel demand on palm-oil related tropical deforestation and destruction of peatlands.
In the long term, the best and only solution to deforestation and peat drainage in Southeast Asia will be a paradigm shift in the regulation of the palm oil industry and enforcement of anti-deforestation policy by the countries involved. Until that happens, it is vital that well-meaning biofuel policies should not needlessly inflate demand for palm oil, and thereby increase pressure for environmental destruction. In order to reduce pressure for deforestation in highly biodiverse habitats in Southeast Asia, existing mandates for biodiesel from vegetable oils should be reduced or eliminated, and new biofuel policies should avoid these resources.