Palm oil and the emission of carbon-based greenhouse gases

The current use of South Asian palm oil as biofuel is far from climate neutral. Dependent on assumptions, losses of biogenic carbon associated with ecosystems, emission of CO2 due to the use of fossil fuels and the anaerobic conversion of palm oil mill effluent currently correspond in South Asia with an emission of about 2.8–19.7 kg CO2 equivalent per kg of palm oil. Using oil palm and palm oil processing wastes for the generation of energy and preventing further conversion of tropical forest into oil palm plantations by establishing new plantations on non-peaty degraded soils can, however, lead to large cuts in the emission of carbon-based greenhouse gases currently associated with the palm oil lifecycle.