About
Across Southeast Asia, deforestation linked to oil palm expansion remains a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and presents a material risk to corporate climate commitments. To improve climate accountability and strengthen supplier engagement, a spatially explicit assessment was conducted to quantify land use change (LUC) emissions associated with oil palm sourcing across Southeast Asia. The project establishes a robust, long-term emissions baseline aligned with the GHG Protocol, supporting both historical reporting and forward-looking risk management across the palm oil value chain.
The Challenge
Accurately quantifying deforestation-related emissions within complex palm oil supply chains involves several key challenges:
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LIMITED HISTORICAL VISIBILITY
Many suppliers lack consistent, long-term land use records, constraining the ability to assess historical deforestation impacts and emissions trends over time.
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COMPLEX EMISSIONS ACCOUNTING
Land use change emissions vary significantly depending on forest type, peat presence, and land conversion practices. This requires spatially explicit, science-based modelling to estimate location specific commodity-based emission factors (GHG emissions per unit of commodity produced).
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SUPPLIER PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKING
Without standardized, location-specific emissions data, it is difficult to benchmark individual suppliers against regional or provincial averages and identify higher-risk sources within the value chain.
Methodology
The project developed a spatially explicit time series spanning more than 20 years of direct Land Use Change (dLUC) emissions resulting from forest-to-oil palm conversion. The analysis integrates traceability data with concession boundaries, sourcing areas, and historical land cover and land cover change datasets dating back to 2001.
Land use change commodity-based emission factors are calculated over a 20-year retrospective period ending in the reporting year (for example, 2003–2022 for a 2022 reporting cycle). Emissions occurring within this window are allocated to the reporting year using linear discounting, producing a weighted annual emissions profile consistent with GHG Protocol guidance.
The assessment focuses exclusively on direct LUC emissions from forest-to-palm conversion and includes the following carbon pools:
- Aboveground forest biomass
- Belowground forest biomass
- Dead organic matter
- Soil carbon
The analysis incorporates multiple greenhouse gas sources, including:
- CO₂ emissions from deforestation
- CH₄ and N₂O emissions from biomass burning
- Emissions from peat drainage and peat burning
- Soil organic carbon losses
- Soil nitrogen mineralization
Total LUC emissions are converted into commodity-specific emission factors using estimated palm oil production in the reporting year. Production estimates are derived from the area available for cultivation and commodity-specific yield rates. Spatial analytics, boundary data for areas of interest, and land cover datasets are integrated to support this analysis.
Outcome
The assessment delivers a comprehensive, supply shed emissions baseline across Southeast Asia, enabling organizations to:
- Conduct historical analysis of supplier emissions trends over more than 20 years, with formal LUC reporting for recent years
- Quantify forward-looking carbon liabilities associated with past deforestation
- Benchmark individual suppliers against provincial average emissions performance
By integrating traceability data, geospatial intelligence, and long-term land cover datasets, the project provides credible and auditable emissions insights to support climate reporting, supplier engagement, and deforestation-free sourcing strategies at scale.