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Malaysia recently agreed to join and ratify the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which was welcomed and celebrated after many years of long negotiations.
However, one other trade deal has faced significant challenges, that of the Malaysia-EU Free Trade Agreement (MEUFTA). Negotiations began in 2010 but stalled in 2012. In 2016-17, a “stocktaking exercise” took place to assess if negotiations could resume, but since the 14th general election in 2018, there has been no action on the renegotiations.
One of the main stumbling blocks preventing the resumption of MEUFTA negotiations is the EU’s contention over Indonesia and Malaysia’s palm oil biofuel. In March 2019, the EU adopted the Delegated Regulation for its second Renewable Energy Directive (RED II), which has upped the tension over the EU’s concerns regarding biofuels.
AustroCel Hallein supplying OMV with celluosic ethanol
The first successful trial delivery of advanced cellulosic ethanol marks the start of the long-term cooperation between OMV, the integrated, international oil, gas and petrochemicals company headquartered in Vienna, and AustroCel Hallein GmbH. The Hallein-based bioethanol plant has an annual capacity of up to 35 million liters (9.2 million gallons US), making it the world’s largest bioethanol plant based on wood.
In the first year AustroCel Hallein will supply more than 1.5 million liters (400,000 gallons US) per month of second-generation bioethanol to OMV.
Bioethanol from Hallein will be produced exclusively from cellulose scrap, making it exceptionally environmentally friendly as no food or animal feed is used in the process. The bioethanol is extracted from the wood sugars left over in cellulose production before being fermented and distilled.
(UPM Biofuels) UPM Biofuels has joined the BIKE project that promotes low-ILUC risk biofuels production for European Bioeconomy. The project brings together companies and research organisations who believe that novel, safe and reliable biomass value chains can be deployed to produce food, feed, biofuels and biomaterials with a low risk of generating indirect land use change.
Sustainable biomass-based biofuels mitigate ILUC (Indirect Land Use Change) because they result from productivity increases such as sequential cropping of cover or intermediate crops, or they come from crops grown on abandoned or severely degraded land.
Sustainable biofuels are needed to rapidly decrease transport emissions in the EU. The responsible production of feedstock for biofuels through well-designed sustainable biomass value chains can enhance soil health and promote green resilience practices in agriculture, thus serving the objectives of the European Green Deal and fostering the bioeconomy.
In Finland, UPM Biofuels joined the BIKE project that promotes low-ILUC risk biofuels production for European Bioeconomy. The project brings together companies and research organizations who believe that novel, safe and reliable biomass value chains can be deployed to produce food, feed, biofuels and biomaterials with a low risk of generating indirect land use change.
Sustainable biomass-based biofuels mitigate ILUC (Indirect Land Use Change) because they result from productivity increases such as sequential cropping of cover or intermediate crops, or they come from crops grown on abandoned or severely degraded land.
BIKE – Biofuels Production at Low ILUC-Risk for European Sustainable Bioeconomy – is a coordination and support scheme started in September 2020 that will continue through to August 2023. The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme.