French protestors target Carrefour’s palm oil business

Protestors dressed as orangutans entered the lobby of Carrefour headquarters to protest its use of palm oil-based biofuels at its petrol stations in France on Thursday.

Building on a recent social media campaign and a spate of demonstrations at petrol station forecourts across the south of France, around 30 activists from Friends of the Earth and ANV-COP21 stormed the offices in Boulogne-Billancourt demanding an end to Carrefour’s use of palm oil-based HVO.

“More than 75% of the palm oil consumed in France is incorporated as biofuel in the diesel we find every day at the pump,” said Sylvain Angerand of Friends of the Earth in a statement.

"All fuel distributors have received a letter to inform them and ask them to exclude palm oil from their fuel: Leclerc and System U are committed, so we ask Carrefour to commit in turn.”

The protest comes at a time when the European Parliament is looking to revise its Renewable Energy Directive and ban the use of first generation biofuels.

Nonetheless, energy majors remain committed to the future of biofuels in the EU. Total is in the final stages of a €250 million refit of its refinery at La Mède in the south of France, which Friends of the Earth warn “could double French imports of palm oil.”