Two weeks to end palm oil subsidies
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- Published on Tuesday, 15 January 2019 03:34
- Written by editor
A,
Palm oil production destroys rainforests and kills orangutans, yet Europe is using more palm oil than ever, burning half of it in cars and buses. That’s because it’s subsidised as a “green” fuel -- even though the deforestation it causes makes it three times worse for the climate than regular diesel.
We have a chance to change that, but we only have 2 weeks. On February 1, the EU Commission has to decide whether to cut the palm oil subsidies off. It’s up to top commission officials to make it happen, but they’re being lobbied hard by the palm oil lobby.
We're doing a final push! Can you please help cover the Twitter feeds of top commissioners to convince them to take palm oil out of Europe's fuel tanks?
We’ve done the writing already -- just click the link, edit our message if you like, and hit send.
When most of us think about palm oil, we think about food and cosmetics -- and we’ve rightly been pushing companies like Unilever and PepsiCo to be more responsible about their palm oil use. But the fact is that 51% of palm oil imported to Europe is burned in combustion engines. That's a scandal!
And that number is rising. Over the past 10 years, the amount of palm oil in food, animal feed and cosmetics has decreased -- but the amount in biodiesel has gone up. Meanwhile, our thirst for cheap palm oil has led to massive scale rainforest destruction and the near-extinction of the orangutan.
If the EU Commission ends palm oil subsidies, it’ll be the first step towards phasing out this destructive fuel source, putting an end to the deforestation and protecting the last orangutans.
All they need is a push from you!
Thanks so much for helping us get this far!
Fatah, Rebecca and the team at SumOfUs
More information:
Up in smoke: Europe's cars driving deforestation in Southeast Asia, Transport and Environment, 6 June 2018
Palm oil producers are wiping out orangutans – despite multinationals’ promises, The Guardian, 10 May 2018
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