PALMOILMAGAZINE, LONDON – Indonesia’s Coordinator Minister of Economy, Airlangga Hartarto, conducted a working visit to the United Kingdom on Tuesday (30/04/2024). One of the key agendas was a meeting with the UK’s Minister for Climate, Environment, and Energy, Lord Richard Henry Ronald Benyon, in London.
During the meeting, discussions revolved around the UK’s implementation of Due Diligence measures concerning commodities that pose risks to forests and could significantly impact trade with Indonesia, particularly palm oil.
Airlangga Hartarto emphasized Indonesia’s desire for the UK’s Due Diligence measures to not distort trade or discriminate against palm oil products. “Many developing countries have their rights to develop sustainable and multi-lateral trade system with transparency, non-discrimination, and consistency principles with the international – scale regulations,” he said, as in the official statement to Palmoilmagazine.com, Thursday (2/5/2024).
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In his response, Minister Richard said that the Government of UK should implement Due Diligence on sustainable products by having partnership approach. This woud also consider every standard and certification available in the partner countries, including Indonesian Sustainabe Palm Oil (ISPO), Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). He also discussed about smallholders and wanted to get sustainable product supply chain from Indonesia but should not deliver losses for the forests.
Besides discussing trade, it was the chance for Indonesia to deliver explaination about the progress in green – house gas (GHG) emission control. The program, for instance, biodiesel 40 percent (B40), the planting of mangrove, and energy transition were discussed. Minister Richar did get the explanation and hoped to share experiences to what Indonesia has been achieving in climate change solution.
As part of the commitment of Indonesia to minimize climate change impacts, the two perfected nationally determined contribution (NDC) by escalating the targets of emission reduction. This would escalate from 29% in the first NDC to be 31,89% without conditions (without international scale – helps), and escalate from 41% to be 43,20% with international – scale helps.
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- Insights into April 2024: Palm Oil Price Trends and Market Dynamics
- Shifting the Narrative on Palm Oil and Deforestation: Insights from ‘Not the End of the World’
The meeting ended by a conclusion to continue FACT (Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade) dialogue as a global – scale forum to informally discuss among the government and other related parties about commodity trade that would have something to do with tropical forest deforestation.
Besides Minister Airlangga, the meeting was joined by Vice Minister of Trade, Jerry Sambuaga; Indonesian Ambassador in UK, Desra Percaya; Secretary of Coordinator Ministry in Economy, Susiwijono Moegiarso; Deputy of Coordinator Ministry in Economy, Edi Pambudi; and Expert Staff in Coordinator Ministry in Economy, Rizal Edwin Manangsang. (T2)
