Bursa Malaysia, Malaysia’s stock market operator has recently launched three new ETFs that track the performance of Asian palm oil producers. They will be based on new indexes created by FTSE to track the equity of both the Malaysian and the Regional Asian sectors. The regional funds will be available in both Malaysian Ringgit and USD and will trade on the MYX in Kuala Lumpur

Despite the middle income nation’s success at diversifying its economy into the tech sector, Reuters reports that palm oil production still makes up one fifth of Malaysian market cap.

Palm oil is the world’s second most used cooking oil, and has caught some interest as a potential biofuel because of its high energy density. Its harvesting, however, causes massive deforestation that critics claim negates any carbon benefits it offers as an oil substitute. Its cultivation also threatens biodiversity in many global biodiversity hotspots, so I wouldn’t bet on these showing up in the holdings of any sustainable, socially responsible, or cleantech funds.