Climate Emergency Driving Corporate Investments in Green Palm Oil in Malaysia
May 13 2024 CSPO Watch
|
|
|
Oil Palm Biomass for Composite Panels-Science Direct
Often accused of being a climate demon by Western environmental groups, with Southeast Asian producers arguing that it is God’s gift, palm oil may finally be finding its place in sustainable societies.
With the acknowledgement of fossil fuels as by far the largest contributor to global climate change, accounting for over 75 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the renewed interest in bioenergy is finally seeing the investments that is needed now that the real demon oil has been exposed.
The demonization of crude oil poses a problem for developing countries like Ghana whose recent discoveries of oil was described as The Presource Curse by the IMF instead of a revenue source for development. The situation has worsened since according to SP Global.
From Black Oil to Green Oil for Energy and Revenue
There is an important lesson for Ghana from Nigeria that says Ghana should focus more on developing its palm oil industry.
Ghana is noted as the third major palm oil producing country in Africa. The sector plays an important role in rural livelihoods and local economic development according to the UNDP.
This role in economic development may become more important as Ghana will displace Ivory Coast to become the lead exporter and earner of palm oil production in West-Africa.
Can a strong palm oil industry prevent Ghana from asking for its eighteenth bail out?
If export revenue, local economy and energy independence for its transport sector is of importance to Ghana, then there are more important reasons for Ghana to concentrate on developing its palm oil industry.
The world’s biggest palm oil producer, Indonesia, is looking to reduce crude oil imports for energy. More attractive to revenue starved Ghana should be that Indonesia exported close to USD24 billion in 2023.
While Indonesia’s achievements with the palm oil industry may be unattainable for Ghana or its African neighbors like Nigeria, the better example is Malaysia, which is reinventing its industry to fight climate change.
There’s more to palm oil than cooking oil
Long seen by successive governments as “green gold” in terms of development, the Malaysian industry has proven the industry’s golden status despite anything that NGOs like FOEI may say against it.
As the second largest producer of palm oil globally, the Malaysian palm oil industry has had to survive market competition not only from Indonesia and emerging palm oil producing countries in Latin America. On top of that, the Malaysian palm oil industry has to compete with cheap soy from the USA and Latin America which competes in the major markets of China and India.
Despite the challenging market, Malaysia’s palm oil industry anticipates export values to increase to USD21 billion with excise revenues close to USD4 billion. The industry could realize another USD4.6 billion if the chronic labor shortage is ever resolved with long term solutions to a labor intensive crop.
More tantalizing is the revenue prospects from palm oil wastes. Malaysia produces 90 mil mt oil palm biomass annually from its existing plantations according to SP Global.
The science of Waste-to-wealth for Malaysia is being realized as energy hungry countries like Japan, work on projects to create energy from palm oil biomass. This is a solid recovery for the palm oil industry as Japan was previously accused of being a leakage market for bad palm oil.
The implications here are huge as environmentalists argue against the use of woody biomass for energy. Green NGOs like Greenpeace have long criticized the use of biomass for energy where trees are planted simply for the purpose of being burnt for energy.
Palm oil biomass differs in that it is a by-product of the industry. While the palm oil industry in Indonesia has been accused of potentially causing more deforestation to feed the biomass industry, these hypothetical assumptions have not applied to Malaysia.
In the past, oil palm biomass was seen as a nuisance despite its tremendous economic and ecologic potential. Projects under Malaysia’s NKEA 2010-2020 failed due to inconsistency in supply and quality as well as technology issues.
In these days of climate emergency where all solutions are being called upon, private sector investments into upcycling Malaysia’s palm wastes have gathered a head of steam.
It took the climate urgency and technology to burnish palm oil’s image, an essential step before investments, to use palm wastes to produce not only green biomass but also key elements in electric vehicles and wood and paper.
The financial success of these new low carbon products may ultimately rely on Malaysia’s commitment to produce palm oil sustainably. There may be questions on Malaysian palm oil meeting EUDR demands for no deforestation but there are no questions in terms of meeting low emission products from its existing plantations.
CSPO Watch thanks Ir Qua Kiat Seng for his contributions to this report on Malaysian biomass.
With the acknowledgement of fossil fuels as by far the largest contributor to global climate change, accounting for over 75 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the renewed interest in bioenergy is finally seeing the investments that is needed now that the real demon oil has been exposed.
The demonization of crude oil poses a problem for developing countries like Ghana whose recent discoveries of oil was described as The Presource Curse by the IMF instead of a revenue source for development. The situation has worsened since according to SP Global.
From Black Oil to Green Oil for Energy and Revenue
There is an important lesson for Ghana from Nigeria that says Ghana should focus more on developing its palm oil industry.
Ghana is noted as the third major palm oil producing country in Africa. The sector plays an important role in rural livelihoods and local economic development according to the UNDP.
This role in economic development may become more important as Ghana will displace Ivory Coast to become the lead exporter and earner of palm oil production in West-Africa.
Can a strong palm oil industry prevent Ghana from asking for its eighteenth bail out?
If export revenue, local economy and energy independence for its transport sector is of importance to Ghana, then there are more important reasons for Ghana to concentrate on developing its palm oil industry.
The world’s biggest palm oil producer, Indonesia, is looking to reduce crude oil imports for energy. More attractive to revenue starved Ghana should be that Indonesia exported close to USD24 billion in 2023.
While Indonesia’s achievements with the palm oil industry may be unattainable for Ghana or its African neighbors like Nigeria, the better example is Malaysia, which is reinventing its industry to fight climate change.
There’s more to palm oil than cooking oil
Long seen by successive governments as “green gold” in terms of development, the Malaysian industry has proven the industry’s golden status despite anything that NGOs like FOEI may say against it.
As the second largest producer of palm oil globally, the Malaysian palm oil industry has had to survive market competition not only from Indonesia and emerging palm oil producing countries in Latin America. On top of that, the Malaysian palm oil industry has to compete with cheap soy from the USA and Latin America which competes in the major markets of China and India.
Despite the challenging market, Malaysia’s palm oil industry anticipates export values to increase to USD21 billion with excise revenues close to USD4 billion. The industry could realize another USD4.6 billion if the chronic labor shortage is ever resolved with long term solutions to a labor intensive crop.
More tantalizing is the revenue prospects from palm oil wastes. Malaysia produces 90 mil mt oil palm biomass annually from its existing plantations according to SP Global.
The science of Waste-to-wealth for Malaysia is being realized as energy hungry countries like Japan, work on projects to create energy from palm oil biomass. This is a solid recovery for the palm oil industry as Japan was previously accused of being a leakage market for bad palm oil.
The implications here are huge as environmentalists argue against the use of woody biomass for energy. Green NGOs like Greenpeace have long criticized the use of biomass for energy where trees are planted simply for the purpose of being burnt for energy.
Palm oil biomass differs in that it is a by-product of the industry. While the palm oil industry in Indonesia has been accused of potentially causing more deforestation to feed the biomass industry, these hypothetical assumptions have not applied to Malaysia.
In the past, oil palm biomass was seen as a nuisance despite its tremendous economic and ecologic potential. Projects under Malaysia’s NKEA 2010-2020 failed due to inconsistency in supply and quality as well as technology issues.
In these days of climate emergency where all solutions are being called upon, private sector investments into upcycling Malaysia’s palm wastes have gathered a head of steam.
- Malakoff champions biomass co-firing in Malaysia, pursues growth in renewable energy https://theedgemalaysia.com/content/advertise/malakoff-champions-biomass-co-firing-malaysia-pursues-growth-renewable-energy
- Green COP, a leading sustainability company pioneering innovative biofuel solutions, is delighted to announce a strategic collaboration with IOI Corporation Berhad (IOI), a leading global integrated palm oil player.
- Nestle goes carbon neutral. Chief executive officer Juan Aranols said Nestle has collaborated with technology partner ENCO Systems Sdn Bhd to develop and install the fully equipped plant worth RM18 million.
- TSH converts plantation waste to energy with a 12-megawatt (MWhr) biomass co-gen power plant & 3-megawatt (MWhr) Biogas engine at its Bio-Complex Plant at Tawau, Sabah that uses mesocarp fibre, palm kernel shells, EFB & methane gas from POME from its own Palm Oil Mill to satisfy almost all the steam and electricity requirements of the complex. The generated energy is connected to Sabah grid system (SESB), which is under SEDA FIT program.
- Kinergy Advancement Bhd's (KAB) subsidiary KAB Energy Holdings Sdn Bhd has signed a heads of agreement (HoA) with XSD International Paper Sdn Bhd (XSDIP) to initiate KAB's first biomass project, focusing on power and steam generation.
- Ecoscience International Bhd is partnering with Netherland renewable energy firm Maatschappij Wilhelmina NV (Wilhelmina), to build and manage Wilhelmina’s TG2 black pellet plant in Kuantan, Pahang.
- Nextgreen Global Bhd, which is in the business of turning empty fruit bunches (EFB), a byproduct of palm oil mills, into green and sustainable products such as pulp and paper, pulp moulding, fertiliser and animal feed, is now ready to showcase to the world what it can do. After years of research and development (R&D) in the area of EFB and successfully commercialising its pulp production facility — with a capacity of 10,000 tonnes per year — in 2022, Nextgreen has found partners with the financial muscle to help scale up its operations. The Edge Malaysia
- IOI sees commercialisation of first-of-its-kind palm wood operations. IOIPW repurposes oil palm trunks (OPT) into high-performance palm wood boards and panels at the Segamat facility, which has an annual capacity of 45,000 to 80,000 cu m. It is said to be the first of its kind in Malaysia and possibly the world, converting OPT, which are often chipped and left to decompose in the field to fertilise the soil, into commercially valuable materials to be used in the production of furniture, high-performance panels and other construction materials.
- Graphjet, Energem merge to create direct biomass-to-graphite company. “With China dominating more than 97% of all graphite production, we look forward to becoming the leading supplier to the US market to support its burgeoning battery storage and EV industries,” Lee said.
It took the climate urgency and technology to burnish palm oil’s image, an essential step before investments, to use palm wastes to produce not only green biomass but also key elements in electric vehicles and wood and paper.
The financial success of these new low carbon products may ultimately rely on Malaysia’s commitment to produce palm oil sustainably. There may be questions on Malaysian palm oil meeting EUDR demands for no deforestation but there are no questions in terms of meeting low emission products from its existing plantations.
CSPO Watch thanks Ir Qua Kiat Seng for his contributions to this report on Malaysian biomass.
|
|
|