Palm Oil’s Unstoppable Rise: Why Reform, Not Retreat, is the Real Climate Solution

 

Palm oils' unstoppable rise by AI.

By 2024, the global production of oils and fats has nearly doubled, surging from 130.8 million tons in 2003/04 to an estimated 259.8 million tons in 2023/24, according to Oil World Annual 2024. 

Amid this explosive growth, palm oil has emerged not merely as a key player —but as the dominant force, accounting for 31.5% of total global production, up from 23.1% two decades ago.

At the same time, other oils —like soybean oil— have maintained relatively stable shares, nudging from 23.5% to 23.9%. Oils from palm kernel and coconut remain important but comparatively minor players.

The efficiency argument: Why palm oil reigns

Palm oil’s dramatic expansion is not an accident. It is the direct result of biological efficiency. Producing far more oil per hectare than any other major crop, oil palm trees require less land, water, fertilizer, and pesticides to yield the same —or greater— quantities of oil.

Where soybean yields hover around 0.4 tons per hectare, and rapeseed and sunflower slightly higher, oil palm produces a staggering 2.5 tons per hectare. No other vegetable oil even comes close.

Replacing palm oil with alternatives would mean expanding agricultural land four to six times over, exacerbating precisely the kinds of deforestation, carbon emissions, and habitat loss that environmental advocates aim to prevent.

The Boycott dilemma: Good intentions, bad outcomes

Public campaigns urging boycotts of palm oil products may offer emotional catharsis, but they overlook a critical and uncomfortable reality: eliminating palm oil would almost certainly worsen the planet’s ecological crises.

By abandoning palm oil, demand would shift toward lower-yield crops requiring vast new agricultural frontiers—cutting down more forests, emitting more carbon, and consuming more water and chemical inputs.

High-yield crops like palm oil are not villains in the climate story—they are potential lifelines. The real culprit lies not in the biology of the oil palm but in how the industry has often been managed: poorly regulated land clearing, unsustainable practices, and social injustices.

Reform, not retreat

The path forward is clear: reform palm oil production, don't retreat from it. Initiatives like the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), along with moratoriums on new forest clearing, offer promising models. But these steps must go further.

A sustainable future for palm oil demands:

1. Zero-deforestation policies

2. Full supply chain traceability

3. Fair treatment of indigenous and local communities

4. Support for smallholder farmers to adopt regenerative practices

Efficiency in food production is not a luxury in the 21st century—it is a necessity. As global demand for vegetable oil climbs, the world cannot afford to abandon the most land-efficient crop available.

Rather than demonizing palm oil, global efforts must ensure its production benefits both people and planet.

-- Rangkaya Bada