Life Cycle Carbon Footprint of Indonesian Refined Palm Oil and Its Embodied Emissions in Global Trade

Hanlei Wang, Xia Li (), Mingxing Sun, Yulei Xie and Hui Li ()
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Hanlei Wang: Key Laboratory for City Cluster Environmental Safety and Green Development of the Ministry of Education, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Xia Li: Foreign Environmental Cooperation Center, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Beijing 100035, China
Mingxing Sun: Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Yulei Xie: School of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Hui Li: School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: Indonesia plays a dominant role in the global refined palm oil (RPO) supply chain. Given the increasing global emphasis on carbon neutrality and sustainable trade, understanding the carbon footprint of Indonesian RPO and its embodied carbon emissions (ECE) in global trade is essential for identifying mitigation opportunities and aligning with international sustainability standards. This study integrates life cycle assessment and trade data to quantify the carbon footprint of RPO products and analyze the spatiotemporal patterns of trade-related ECE. Results show that producing 1 ton of RPO emits 2196.84 kg CO 2 e, with wastewater treatment (57.67%) and land use change (32.82%) as the main contributors. From 2010 to 2022, ECE induced by RPO exports rose from 35.79 Mt CO 2 e to 54.94 Mt CO 2 e (3.64% annual growth). Major ECE importers were India, China, and Pakistan, accounting for 20.36%, 14.29%, and 11.45% of Indonesia’s total trade-related ECE, respectively. Comprehensive sensitivity and uncertainty analyses conducted on key parameters confirmed the robustness of the above results. Based on these robust findings, integrated mitigation strategies targeting both production optimization and sustainable trade mechanisms are proposed to accelerate Indonesia’s RPO industry decarbonization.

Keywords: carbon footprint; life cycle assessment; refined palm oil industry; land use change; embodied carbon emissions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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