Carbon Footprint Comparison of Rapeseed and Palm Oil: Impact of Land Use and Fertilizers

Palm oil is being criticized as an unsustainable product by the EU due to its association with deforestation and high carbon emissions. However, the producers in Indonesia do not acknowledge the criticisms. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the carbon footprint of a representative EU-produced vegetable oil, rapeseed oil, with Indonesian palm oil. The analysis is divided into two stages, namely (a) land use conversion (LUC) as well as (b) plantation and oil processing. LUC entailed the conversion of native vegetation, such as forest areas and grassland, to vegetable oil crops. The carbon opportunity cost was used to account for the LUC contribution to the carbon footprint. For plantation and oil processing stages, the LCA SIMAPRO was adopted. The results showed that when vegetable oil replaced high-carbon-storage vegetation such as forests, the LUC carbon footprint of rapeseed oil and palm oil production were 2.09 and 1.49 t CO2eq t−1 oil, respectively. Replacing low-carbon-storage vegetation, namely shrub/grassland, led to 0.05 and −0.43 t CO2eq t−1 of repressed and palm oils, respectively. Based on the LCA SIMAPRO, the carbon footprints of plantation and oil processing stages were 1.05 and 0.88 t CO2eq t−1 oil for rapeseed and palm oils, respectively. The cultivation of oil palm in peatland generated a higher total carbon footprint (i.e., combined LUC and plantation and oil processing stages) than rapeseed oil (13.8 to 3.14 t CO2eq t−1 oil). However, in non-peatland areas, the total carbon footprint of palm oil was lower than rapeseed oil (2.37 to 3.14 t CO2eq t−1 oil) when replacing tropical forest and temperate forest vegetation, respectively. The total footprint was 1.2 to 0.45 t CO2eq t−1 oil when both replaced shrub/grassland. The higher productivity of oil palm and lower fertilizer requirement contributed primarily to the lower carbon footprint in non-peatland areas.