Environmental impact of palm cooking oil: a case study in Sumatra, Indonesia

Over the last decade, there has been a significant growth in life cycle assessment (LCA) research on oil palm production around the world, with an emphasis on the stages of the life cycle from oil palm plantation to crude palm oil (CPO). However, there is still a research shortage in the downstream section, which includes CPO and cooking oil production. This study addresses the gap by utilizing LCA to evaluate the environmental impacts using recent field data collected from selected sites in Sumatra. The study aims to examine the environmental impacts associated with the quality of palm cooking oil and compare them with those of other vegetable cooking oils. The system boundary is defined as cradle-to-gate, comprising land preparation, plantation, CPO production, and refinery of cooking oil. The results indicate that higher-quality palm cooking oil with iodine value (IV) 60 is associated with increased environmental impacts across several categories, including global warming, eutrophication, acidification, ozone layer depletion, and marine ecotoxicity. Furthermore, palm cooking oil with IV 56, which represents the most often consumed quality level, has a lower carbon footprint than cooking oils made from rapeseed, sunflower, soybean, peanut, canola, coconut, and maize. These findings provide useful information for consumers, industry, and politicians seeking to reduce the environmental effects of vegetable cooking oil.