Was the EUDR delay necessary?
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It is?palm oil giants: 1; environmentalists: 0 – for now at least.?
Last week,?Europe moved to postpone a landmark law?meant to tackle commodity-related forest loss, a decision that most saw as a submission to pressure from governments in countries that sell food and forestry products to the European Union market.?
The EU Deforestation Regulation, or EUDR, has divided the palm oil industry in Indonesia and Malaysia. Big producers and lobby groups?welcomed the 12-month delay, while smallholders and sustainable palm oil associations said they would have been ready to comply with the original deadline of end-2024 anyway.?
Environmental advocates are against the decision, with one group calling it an “act of nature vandalism”. They ask: why is the EU not resolute enough to stand by what is right and not stall action to protect the world's forests??
There are other worrying developments in the region that reflect a backpedalling on climate commitments. Indonesia now has a sustainable finance taxonomy, but it risks losing credibility for still classifying coal plants as green. In Taiwan, energy-guzzling technologies such as artificial intelligence are "at odds" with net zero goals, but the authorities are not willing to scale back on any of its tech-driven economic pursuits.?
By contrast, there is good news this week in Malaysia. The government is?planning to set emissions thresholds for companies under a long-awaited climate change act. Globally,?auditing standards for climate-related disclosures?are also in the works, which aims to give investors confidence that companies are not greenwashing in their sustainability reports.
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The move comes after sustained pressure from commodity producers and resistance from its own members.
Guidance from the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board – effective from December 2026 – could help curb greenwash if backed by strong regulatory frameworks, say industry players.
Emissions thresholds will be set for organisations, starting with hard-to-abate sectors or large emitters.
Speaking before an energy trade show delayed by a typhoon, industry players touted battery storage as key to meeting Taiwan's energy needs.
The taxonomies of Singapore and Thailand are Southeast Asia's most robust, according to a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
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