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:
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.
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).
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.