Indonesia Environmental Diplomacy in President Joko Widodo’s Era (2014-2019) of the Issue Rejection Indonesia’s Cpo by European Union

Abstract

Environmental diplomacy is one of discipline in International Relations, which combines ecological problems involving other countries and uses negotiation as solutions. The policy of the European Commission through Renewable Energy Directive II for Indonesia put palm oil discriminated among another vegetable oil. This research found that in Joko Widodo’s era, Indonesia has carried out its role as an international agent with some policies related to managing sustainable palm oil. Indonesia also uses bilateral, multilateral, and global approaches, and even the involvement of international organizations as a peaceful way resolving palm oil disputes for the target of Sustainable Development Goals’ through palm oil.
 
 Keywords: Environmental Diplomacy, Palm Oil, Renewable Energy Directive II, European Union, Export, Rejection
 

Transboundary Environmental Governance in the Eu and Southeast Asia: Contesting Hybridity in the Biofuels and Palm Oil Regimes

“…Both countries have argued that the EU RED II violates the principle of nondiscrimination in the WTO (Arief et al, 2020) and has the potential to damage the reputation of palm oil in non-biofuel EU markets (Siahaan, 2020). The WTO's basic free trade tenets are understood such that if a foreign product looks like a domestic product, it should not be taxed or sanctioned differently from that domestic product.…”

“…These responses were coordinated through the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC). The CPOPC was found by Indonesia and Malaysia in 2015 originally to harmonise the Indonesian ISPO and Malaysian MSPO sustainability standards (Nesadurai, 2018), but has now developed to become a platform to coordinate palm oil diplomacy and trade access efforts of the commodity's largest producers (Siahaan, 2020) (Colombia, the thirdlargest producer pf palm oil, has recently joined). For example, the CPOPC made a strong statement against the EU RED II at the ASEAN-European Union Summit in 2017, where FTAs were discussed (Wibowo & Ratnawati, 2020).…”

“…Other coordinated efforts include Indonesia's ban of products labelled as 'palm oil-free' and the Malaysian government's implicit support of retailers doing the same (Australian Industry Group, 2019). The CPOPC's Ministerial Meeting in 2019 called for unity among palm oil-producing countries in combating discriminatory trade measures against palm oil through aggressive joint campaigns (Siahaan, 2020). Its eighth meeting in 2021 continued in this vein, with discussions focusing on bolstering cooperation between Indonesia and Malaysia over palm oil.…”

“…This is despite recognition elsewhere: 1) Scholars and commentators have acknowledged that the RSPO performs better on many sustainability criteria compared to ISCC (Nesadurai, 2018;Stattman et al, 2018); and 2) MSPO has received recognition from bodies such as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics Games Sustainable Sourcing Code Committee, China's Green Food Development Centre, and the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (Sani, 2020). This is especially ironic since a major driver for developing these schemes was the sustainability demands of Western consumer goods manufacturers, NGOs, and governments (Siahaan, 2020;Nesadurai, 2018;Pichler, 2013). The market for certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) remains limited as downstream corporate buyers, mainly in Europe, did not match their pledges with the actual purchase of CSPO.…”

Eco-Business Diplomacy: A Case Study of SMART and the European Union on Palm Oil Issue

“…Indonesia's environmental diplomacy has largely ignored the role of the business firm. Most research in Indonesia's environmental diplomacy focused on the role of the states (Robertua, 2019;Pramudianto, 2011;Siahaan, 2020;Ningsih, 2019). By using the case study of the PT.…”