Jakarta – Vegetable oils, including the palm oil, have been attributed to the cause of carbon emissions, which have become one of the global environmental issues. But actually what is the contribution of each vegetable oil to the global carbon emissions?

Based on the study of Beyer et al. (2020), and Beyer and Rademacher (2021), at the level of global ecosystem, the world’s oil palm plantations are the lowest contributors of carbon emissions compared to other vegetable oils.

The studies show that compared to the carbon emission caused by palm oil, the carbon emission caused by soybean is 425% higher than that of palm oil; then rapeseed is higher by 242%; sunflower higher by 225%, peanuts higher by 424%; coconut oil higher by 337%; and olive oil higher by 342%.

“Therefore, the ranking of emission contributors from the lowest to highest is as follows: palm oil, sunflower, rapeseed, coconut oil, olive oil, peanuts, and soybean,” the study shows, as reported by the Palm Oil Agribusiness Strategic Policy Institute (PASPI) in its recent report.

In addition to that, the carbon emissions of palm oil in all of the producing countries (except Nigeria) are lower than the total carbon emissions resulted in all of the world’s producing countries of other vegetable oils.

Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand are the palm oil producing countries with the lowest carbon emissions. PASPI also reported that the carbon emission from soybean was found the lowest in India. The lowest emission from rapeseed was in France and Canada, while the lowest emission from sunflower was found in the USA.

“The study has proven that the report that states the palm oil as the contributor of highest level of carbon emission is wrong. Conversely, the carbon emissions from other vegetable oils are higher than that from palm oil,” PASPI reported. (*)

Source: wartaekonomi.co.id