MALAYSIA’S palm oil industry players must continue to aggressively engage the European Union to prevent the biofuel from being sidelined on the basis that it indirectly emits greenhouse gases during planting and cultivation.

Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok said the government was left encouraged by the EU’s postponement of the ban on vegetable oil products in biofuels from 2021 to 2030 under the Renewable Energy Directive II (EU RED II), which meant that palm oil-based biofuel would continue to be counted as part of  renewable energy targets.