Many countries at this year’s climate change conference – including China, the European Union countries, and the U.S. – have set targets for the use of biofuels to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Biofuels are liquid fuels made from animal or plant matter. Burning them to power vehicles can result in fewer emissions per unit of energy than using petroleum fuels. Their production may also promote rural development and national energy security.

Biofuels may not in fact be a sustainable solution to climate change. Depending on the plants used to make the fuel, the production process, and the policy frameworks of governments, biofuels may lead to rising food prices, soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, increased rural poverty, and greater GHG emissions due to deforestation.

The U.S. is the world’s second largest producer of biofuels, and this is mostly ethanol…

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Peatland is increasingly making way for oil palm plantations. But with climate change being linked with the destruction of this vital carbon sink, rehabilitation of the land is in order.

Stories by HILARY CHIEW

INITIALLY, there was vehement denial. But, increasingly there is gradual admission. The facts that peat is a vital carbon sink and that disturbed peat is a significant source of carbon emission are being accepted by the oil palm industry.

Expansion of landbank by major industry players is the order of the day. More land – forested or degraded – is being converted into plantations. Spurred by escalating crude palm oil (CPO) prices and the hype over biofuel, oil palm ventures are spreading rapidly across Sarawak, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

Vital: Peatland in Kampar, Riau,

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The article “Trans fats out, but others in,” (Nov. 19, Daily Herald) from the Wall Street Journal, contains an incorrect statement about tropical oils.

Having worked several years in food technology, I can assure you that palm oil, palm kernel oil, and coconut oil, although saturated fats, actually tend to lower cholesterol levels. The reason is, these are short chain saturated fats. It is the long chain saturated fats which raise cholesterol.

This information had been known for years before the attack on these oils began. When a millionaire had a heart attack and was told that the saturated fats in the beef he ate contributed to his health problem, he undertook a highly publicized campaign against saturated fats without checking for scientific evidence. As usual, media jumped on the campaign, and tropical oils were the innocent victim.

My brother, a farmer, profited from…

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Trans fatty acids are created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil – a process that makes the oil last longer. Food fried in oil containing trans fat or baked with shortening or other ingredients containing trans fat stay fresh longer. Trans fats are what gave the Oreo cookie filling its smooth, creamy texture and make French fries crisp. But trans fats have been found to raise bad cholesterol while lowering good cholesterol. Here’s a look at what’s replacing trans fats:

Canola oil: This is the market name for “rapeseed oil,” which comes from rapeseed plants. It is low in saturated fat (a bad fat) and high in monounsaturated fat (a good fat).

High oleic canola oil: A strain of canola oil high in oleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid that contributes to increased shelf life. Canola and other oils high in oleic acid…

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By JULIE JARGON
November 6, 2007

Food companies are scrambling to replace trans fat in everything from french fries to cookies, but health experts worry that what’s good for the nation’s heart might be bad for its waistline.

Trans fat is created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil. The resulting ingredient, known as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, is what makes french fries crispy and croissants flaky. But trans fat’s effect on cholesterol — it raises the bad kind and lowers the good — has made it a food-industry villain.

Ever since the Food and Drug Administration required food companies to disclose the amount of trans fat in their products last year, the industry has been searching for replacement ingredients. Kraft Foods Inc., the world’s second-largest food manufacturer by revenue, has removed trans fat from numerous products, including Oreo cookies, Wheat Thins…

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By Sangeeta Tiwari
Palm oil is a form of edible vegetable oil obtained from the fruit of the oil palm tree. It is the second-most widely produced edible oil, after soybean oil.

However, it may have now surpassed soybean oil as the most widely produced vegetable oil in the world. The palm fruit is the source of both palm oil (extracted from palm fruit) and palm kernel oil (extracted from the fruit seeds).

Palm oil is one of the few vegetable oils relatively high in saturated fats (such as coconut oil) and thus semi-solid at room temperature. There are several commercial variants of palm oil available viz., Crude Palm oil, Crude Palmolein, RBD (Refined Bleached Deodorized) Palmoil, RBD Palmolien and Palm Kernel Oil. Crude Palm oil when subjected to refining results in the other factions.

Palm oil with an annual production of 25-27 million tons…

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Rhett A. Butler, San Francisco

Environmentalists and palm-oil producers are increasingly at odds. Greens groups say palm oil is driving the conversion of tens of thousands of hectares of peatlands and lowland forest in Indonesia, putting wildlife at risk, increasing the vulnerability of forests to fires, and triggering large emissions of greenhouse gases.

Palm-oil producers say their industry plays a crucial role in Indonesia’s economic growth and provides employment to tens of thousands of Indonesians. Going further, some plantation owners suggest that campaigners are merely trying to hurt the industry, while others accuse the West of hypocrisy for criticizing palm-oil production while overlooking environmental harm caused by biofuels in other parts of the world, including the Amazon (soy biodiesel and sugar-cane ethanol), Europe (rapeseed), and the United States (corn ethanol).

Nevertheless, pressure from environmentalists is beginning…

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