Study: Oil Palm Expansion in Brazil May Cause Massive Carbon Emissions

Oil palm expansion in Brazil intended for food or biofuel production could result in extremely high emissions of carbon dioxide unless strict controls are put in place, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters by researchers from the University of California, Davis.

The researchers measured the impact of land conversion under three different enforcement scenarios of land use change over a 30 year period in the Brazilian region of Pará (none, some, and strict enforcement). They found that converting 22.5 million hectares of land can produce 110 billion liters of biodiesel a year. They estimated that 22 to 71 percent of the area can come from forest land, conservation units, wetland and indigenous areas, producing direct land use emission that can be higher than that of petroleum diesel. If the extraction, refinement, transport and actual combustion of the biodiesel is taken into account, the total carbon intensity of biodiesel will greatly exceed that of petroleum diesel that it intends to displace.

The researchers pointed out oil palm plantations should be strictly confined to previously deforested land and not allowed to spill over into conservation or indigenous areas in that region to prevent this massive carbon emission.