New study investigates sustainability risks to vegetable oils

Co-ordinated by Wageningen University & Research alongside IPB University (Indonesia) and Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences, the study assessed the contribution the three oils made towards achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2040, the 4 August report said.

In addition to assessing the oils’ current sustainability performance, the study also looked at their future performance under business-as-usual and ambitious scenarios.

In these scenarios, the researchers evaluated six key sustainability aspects: land use efficiency, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, biodiversity impacts, pollution effects, livelihood contributions and economic performance.

The researchers found that palm oil was the most land-efficient oil crop, producing over twice as much per hectare as soyabean or rapeseed oil.

Practices such as intercropping and livestock integration in oil palm and double cropping in soyabean could further boost land use efficiency for all three crops, the study found.

At the time of the report, rapeseed oil had the lowest GHG emissions/tonne, followed by soyabean and palm oil.

GHG emissions from palm oil were mainly due to methane emissions from palm oil mill effluent (POME) and CO₂ emissions from peatland.

However, under an ambitious future scenario, which included strong sustainability practices, emissions from palm oil production would be significantly reduced to become comparable to those of soyabean and rapeseed, the study said.

Due to its labour-intensive nature, oil palm cultivation was also found to generate the highest income per hectare and supported more jobs per hectare than the other two crops.

The researchers also found that soyabean and oil palm expansion had contributed to deforestation in Brazil and Indonesia respectively, with consequences for biodiversity.

While rapeseed cultivation in Germany had not caused recent deforestation, future scenarios suggested that both oil palm and soyabean could dramatically reduce their biodiversity impacts with proper safeguards.

While soyabean made the highest contribution to overall export value, mainly through whole beans and protein meal, palm oil generated the highest export revenue from oil alone.

Commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the study found that improving sustainability across all oil crops was possible and necessary to achieve SDGs and national goals.

Tags: vegetable oils, Brazil, Malaysia, palm oil, Germany, rapeseed oil, Sustainability, emissions, soyabean oil