Total loses bid for palm oil tax break

France’s constitutional court rejected yesterday a bid by oil firm Total to secure a tax break for using controversial palm oil to create biofuel. French legislators in 2018 excluded palm oil from biofuel inputs eligible for tax breaks, which threw a spanner in the financial works for a Total refinery under construction.

Environmentalists say palm oil drives deforestation, with vast areas of Southeast Asian rainforest having been logged or set ablaze to make way for plantations. In additional to releasing vast amounts of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, this has threatened the habitat of orangutans and other endangered species.