Carbon farming and palm oil

THE palm oil business can no longer ignore the call to embrace sustainability more thoroughly. As the consequences of the climate crisis grow, businesses worldwide are investing in climate mitigation measures.

Tree crops like the oil palm are viewed as a natural sequester of carbon (one of the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming and, thus, climate change), especially carbon dioxide which plants absorb for photosynthesis. However, within the crop ecosystem, the potential for carbon emission also exists. Rotting vegetation and crop residues within the oil palm plantation undergo microbial degradation, emitting greenhouse gases such as methane, which is 21 times more damaging than carbon dioxide.