The European Union is planning to completely phase out the use of palm oil in biofuel by the year 2030. Previously, palm oil was seen as very important in its use for biofuel, but the EU sees it as a major factor to deforestation, as well as there being several trade predicaments involving palm oil. Although the cultivation of palm oil is controversial regarding its sustainability, it provides much more oil for the biofuels than the alternatives being offered by the EU.

 

I think that since the production of biofuels is so important to the climate and sustainability crises, their production has to be a top priority. My conflict arises from the fact that the production of palm oil means the cultivation of palm trees, which do lead to a lot of deforestation and loss of biodiversity. Even so, the efficiency with which palm trees produce palm oil is unrivaled, at least with what the EU is detailing as alternatives. Because of this, I do think that we should continue to produce palm oil to eventually harness all of the power that it possesses as a biofuel. This relates to environmental science because it involves aspects of economics, politics, ethics, and chemistry, which are all big parts of environmental science.