Measured greenhouse gas budgets challenge emission savings from palm-oil biodiesel

Ana Meijide (), Cristina Rua, Thomas Guillaume, Alexander Röll, Evelyn Hassler, Christian Stiegler, Aiyen Tjoa, Tania June, Marife D. Corre, Edzo Veldkamp and Alexander Knohl
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Ana Meijide: Bioclimatology, University of Göttingen
Cristina Rua: Technical University of Munich
Thomas Guillaume: University of Göttingen
Alexander Röll: University of Göttingen
Evelyn Hassler: University of Göttingen
Christian Stiegler: Bioclimatology, University of Göttingen
Aiyen Tjoa: Fakultas Pertanian, Universitas Tadulako
Tania June: IPB University, Department of Geophysics and Meteorology
Marife D. Corre: University of Göttingen
Edzo Veldkamp: University of Göttingen
Alexander Knohl: Bioclimatology, University of Göttingen

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract The potential of palm-oil biofuels to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared with fossil fuels is increasingly questioned. So far, no measurement-based GHG budgets were available, and plantation age was ignored in Life Cycle Analyses (LCA). Here, we conduct LCA based on measured CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes in young and mature Indonesian oil palm plantations. CO2 dominates the on-site GHG budgets. The young plantation is a carbon source (1012 ± 51 gC m−2 yr−1), the mature plantation a sink (−754 ± 38 gC m−2 yr−1). LCA considering the measured fluxes shows higher GHG emissions for palm-oil biodiesel than traditional LCA assuming carbon neutrality. Plantation rotation-cycle extension and earlier-yielding varieties potentially decrease GHG emissions. Due to the high emissions associated with forest conversion to oil palm, our results indicate that only biodiesel from second rotation-cycle plantations or plantations established on degraded land has the potential for pronounced GHG emission savings.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14852-6

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