Palm Oil and Environmentally Friendly Alternatives
Although we hear about palm oil frequently, many of us remain unaware of its deep infiltration into our lives and the significant issues caused by this vast industry. To keep up with the world’s escalating demand for palm oil, we are continuously losing vast expanses of tropical forests and their associated biodiversity. Consequently, the pursuit of environmentally friendly alternatives to palm oil is intensifying daily.
Palm oil is a vegetable oil sourced from the tropical palm tree Elaeis guineensis, originally native to Africa but introduced to Southeast Asia around 100 years ago by humans as an ornamental plant. It is present in roughly half of all packaged products we purchase from supermarkets, appearing in everything from chocolate to deodorants, baked goods to toothpaste. It is also used in animal feed and biofuel production. Reportedly, over 200 raw materials derived from palm oil are used in the food and personal care products that enter our homes, yet only 10% of these explicitly mention “palm” on their labels. Palm oil’s appeal lies in its various properties: it acts as a thickener since it does not fully harden at room temperature, it serves as a preservative due to its resistance to oxidation, it’s advantageous as a frying oil because it withstands high temperatures without degrading, and it’s colourless and odourless, making it an ideal additive. Moreover, the oil palm is a highly productive plant year-round, even on small plots of land, thus providing a consistent source of income for both small family farms and large agri-businesses.
Why Preferred?
The utility of palm oil has led to its rapid establishment as a staple agricultural product. Its global production quadrupled between 1995 and 2015, and is expected to quadruple again by 2050. This surge is partly because major corporations sought alternatives to hydrogenated oils like margarine, which were deemed unhealthy in the mid-1990s.
Currently, an estimated 3 billion people across 150 countries regularly consume products containing palm oil, averaging about 8 kg per capita each year. Indonesia and Malaysia alone account for 85% of this production.
Despite the significant role of palm oil in poverty alleviation programmes, particularly in developing tropical nations, such intense agricultural production is unsustainable due to the natural food web cycles of tropical soils. The destruction of some of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems for palm oil production is particularly alarming -in Indonesia and Malaysia, the land dedicated to oil palm cultivation spans 13 million hectares and is expanding daily. Social media often highlights the plight of elephants, rhinos, and orangutans losing their habitats. Continued deforestation threatens many species already at risk of extinction. Preserving tropical forests, repositories of 80% of the planet’s biodiversity, is crucial. Yet, the dilemma remains: Oil palms are so productive per hectare that it would require much more agricultural land to produce the same amount of oil from another crop. So if oil palm production was completely banned around the world right now, it would likely lead to even more deforestation to accommodate alternative crops.
This is a formidable challenge. Shifting global production lines and systems to new raw materials is arduous and gradual. Alternatives like flaxseed, coconut, sunflower, cocoa, shea, jatropha, and mango kernel oils are being explored, but these are produced on a much smaller scale than palm oil and are unlikely to satisfy current demand. Moreover, all production systems are interconnected; palm oil, rich in calories and fatty acids, is also used extensively in animal feed. Therefore, as the demand for meat and dairy products increases, the demand for palm oil is likely to increase.
For these reasons, various small companies and research institutions continue to search for palm oil alternatives. For example, a team in Poland is producing powdered additives from insects for use in chicken feed as a palm oil substitute. These ‘feed insect’ can be produced from food waste and have been shown to have positive effects on livestock due to their high protein content.
Alternatives in Line
One alternative to palm oil in the biofuel industry is algae. In order to survive in arid conditions, algae coat their spores with an oil very similar to palm oil, which can be harvested. Through genetic engineering, the yield of this oil can potentially be increased. Recently, the Japanese car manufacturer Honda has been trialling a new system at their testing facilities to capture carbon dioxide and use it to cultivate algae. However, there is scepticism among experts about the viability of such methods for large-scale industrial production.
In the sectors of personal care and food products, researchers are exploring fermentation processes as alternatives to palm oil. Finding a substitute for such an affordable and ubiquitous raw material is challenging. Companies like C16 Biosciences, Xylome, and Clean Food Group are employing yeast in laboratories to develop materials that replicate the functions of palm oil, in processes akin to brewing beer. Although these alternatives are currently more costly than palm oil, they could become economically viable with large-scale incentives. Additionally, food waste can be repurposed to nourish the yeasts that produce these oils, effectively addressing two issues simultaneously.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely that a vast industry will undergo complete transformation swiftly. We must patiently await the day when alternative products achieve economic parity, gain regulatory approval, and integrate into major production lines. In the meantime, it is crucial to recognise that true sustainability is achieved through local production and consumption. This approach allows consumers to observe and engage with the production process directly and to express their needs to producers. Unfortunately, deforestation, biodiversity destruction and similar ecological problems far from our eyes and hearts cannot have a serious impact on our daily life choices. We tend to be more affected by what happens in our immediate surroundings. Hence, prioritising local production in our consumption choices not only fosters greater consumer awareness but also supports and strengthens local economies.
REFERENCES
- 1. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/09/climate/palm-oil-lab-startup.html
- 2. https://news.mit.edu/2023/clean-alternative-palm-oil-replacement-0622
- 3. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200109-what-are-the-alternatives-to-palm-oil
- 4. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/feb/19/palm-oil-ingredient-biscuits-shampoo-environmental