Mr Prince is adamant that the company will not drive indigenous people off their land to make way for plantations. “That’s a charge that’s been levelled against the palm oil industry. It has nothing to do with jatropha.”
But Marianne Klute from campaign group Watch Indonesia says the plans are bad news for the local population. “As of yet, there are only relatively few jatropha plantations in Indonesia, so we haven’t yet had any experiences with human rights abuses.
“But the ministry for agriculture has announced that it wants to turn 20 million hectares of land into jatropha plantations by 2025, especially in Eastern Indonesia. That means problems with land rights and human rights are virtually inevitable.”
Environmental damage, economic losses, human rights violations - as imports appear set to form an integral part of the current and future British biofuel market, the down sides of biofuel production in developing countries increasingly give reason for concern.
So, how can consumers ensure they do not contribute unknowingly to the exploitation of land workers and the environment by filling up their car?
Though there does not seem to be an easy answer, Mr Buckley is convinced that creating tighter regulations, forcing suppliers to clearly label the origin and sustainability of their biofuels, is pivotal.
“The EU is supposed to be strengthening these regulations, but this clearly isn’t happening at the moment”, says Mr Buckley.
“If there had been a clear regulation that biofuel production should not lead to environmental damage, then we could have prevented this plant, because it blatantly is destroying a globally recognised area of importance.”