Malaysia to assist local palm oil mills

Malaysian Minister for Plantation and Commodities Peter Chin said in April that the government will use subsidies to encourage the country’s palm oil mills in making their facilities more environmentally friendly. With the government’s financial assistance, palm oil mills can set up facilities to control methane-gas emission. However, construction of emission-control facilities will not be mandatory. “I don’t want to give the impression that one or two years down the line we will penalize the mills if they don’t trap methane. Our approach is to encourage and assist the mills to control methane emission,” Chin emphasized. Controlling methane-gas emission, media reports said, is crucial while producing palm oil in order to meet the European Union’s biofuel production standards. (March 24/ April 7, 2009)