The issue of environmental sustainability has often emerged as the central point in public debate about global consumption of vegetable oils. Many people see the palm oil as less environmentally friendly compared to other vegetable oils.
But actually, scientific data shows that palm oil is relatively more sustainable than other vegetable oils due to its high efficiency in land use, low impact to biodiversity loss, and it causes less emissions and pollutions.¹
Palm oil dominance in global consumption
Palm oil is one of main vegetable oils in the world. According to the long-term projection of the FAO report, palm oil has seen a steadily rising share of production due to its production efficiency.²
Currently, palm oil meets approximately 40% of the world’s vegetable oil needs but only utilizes a small fraction of the global total areas for cultivation of vegetable oil crops.
Why oil palm more efficient in land use
One of the main advantages of palm oil is its extremely high productivity per hectare. Based on global crop yield comparisons, to produce 1.0 ton of oil, palm oil requires an average of only 0.3 hectares (ha) of land.³
In comparison, other vegetable oil crops require much larger areas:
- Sunflower Oil: 1.3 ha
- Rapeseed Oil: 1.4 ha
- Soybean Oil: 2.1 ha
With the efficiency, the use of palm oil indirectly helps reduce the global deforestation. If palm oil is annihilated from the global market and all global oil demands are entirely fulfilled with other vegetable oils, the conversion of forest areas would increase many times higher due to the low productivity of non-palm oil crops.¹
Environmental impacts: Biodiversity and carbon emissions
Based on the Species Richness Loss (SRL) indicator, or the rate of species richness loss per liter of oil, palm oil production has the lowest impact compared to rapeseed, soybean, sunflower, and peanut oils.⁴
The energy and input efficiency of oil palm plantation systems results in a competitive carbon footprint. Research shows that carbon emissions per megagram (Mg) of palm oil are lower than the average production of other vegetable oils due to the high output per unit area.⁵
FAO Data: Lower pollution footprint
The production process of palm oil has proven to only result in much lower level of pollutant residues from fertilizers and pesticides per ton of product. Based on calculations from global agrochemical usage data (FAOSTAT), the ratio of pollutants to produce 1.0 ton of oil is as follows:⁶
Its low use of chemical inputs makes palm oil a more environmentally friendly option for soil and water compared to soybeans or rapeseed, which require significantly more chemical intervention per ton of oil produced.
Palm oil not only excels in production capacity but also has a leading position in sustainability. With its high efficiency in land use and minimal pollution impact, palm oil remains a strategic solution for fulfilling the global food needs sustainably. (*)
¹ PASPI (Palm Oil Agribusiness Strategic Policy Institute). (2024). Minyak Sawit Lebih Berkelanjutan: Analisis Fakta vs Mitos. https://paspi.id/minyak-sawit-lebih-berkelanjutan-analisis-fakta-vs-mitos/
² USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. (2024). Oilseeds: World Markets and Trade (Full Report PDF – includes global production & consumption data). https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/oilseeds.pdf
³ USDA Production, Supply and Distribution (PSD) Database – Direct Data Portal. https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/app/index.html#/app/downloads
⁴ Beyer, R. M., Manica, A., & Rademacher, T. T. (2020). The biodiversity cost of carbon sequestration in tropical agriculture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2005263117
⁵ Beyer, R. M., & Rademacher, T. T. (2021).
High-resolution global maps of the carbon costs of agricultural expansion.
Nature Scientific Data. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-021-01089-8
⁶ FAOSTAT – Fertilizers by Nutrient (Direct Data Portal). https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/RFN | https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/RP
