EU-Indonesia Free Trade Agreement

The trade agreement that the European Union is negotiating with Indonesia (named CEPA), threatens the EU’s commitments to fight the climate crisis, stop deforestation and support human rights.

What’s the problem?

The EU is the second biggest importer of palm oil from Indonesia. Indonesia is the world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil, but this pre-eminence has come at a terrible price. Indonesia’s rainforests - the third largest in the world after the Amazon and Congo Basin – have disappeared at an alarming rate, driven largely by the expansion of palm oil plantations. The industry is also responsible for land grabs and wildlife destruction, including of endangered orangutans. Without sufficient provisions or enforcement mechanisms, CEPA is likely to intensify these pressures.

Fern's work on this issue

What do Fern and our partners want?

The EU should insist on only importing legal and sustainable palm oil from Indonesia, and use CEPA negotiations to work with Indonesia to improve how the sector is governed. The CEPA deal should be conditional on respect for the palm oil and forest moratoriums, and on ambitious national commitments to the Paris Agreement, particularly in the forest sector.

What are we doing?

Fern is informing Indonesian NGOs about the negotiations and how they could undermine EU and Indonesian commitments to stop deforestation and respect the Paris Agreement.

We are sharing Indonesian NGOs’ concerns about environmental deregulation with EU policy makers.

We are documenting EU initiatives on palm oil, highlighting the need for policy coherence.

Indonesian and European NGOs, including Fern, are asking the EU for a consultation with trade negotiators involving civil society and affected communities, to discuss palm oil and threats to forests and human rights and identify what measures must be in place to protect forests & human rights before the trade agreement can go ahead.

What needs to happen to achieve our goals?

Trade negotiations must be transparent and inclusive. Civil society and affected communities must be consulted by trade negotiators and their inputs on social and environmental issues linked to palm oil and threats to forests and human rights taken on board.

CEPA should include enforceable provisions that make market access conditional on protection of forests, respect for customary tenure rights, and implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement.