Ten of the world’s largest agricultural commodity companies have released a joint statement pledging to accelerate efforts towards net-zero emissions globally by 2050. This group of companies reportedly makes a combined revenue of USD 500 million in key commodities such as palm oil and soy, and comprises ADM, Amaggi, Bunge, Cargill, Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), JBS, Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC), Olam International, Wilmar International, and Viterra. To that end, a roadmap will be presented at COP27 next year in line with current climate plans to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
This announcement is timely. According to the IPCC report on climate change published in August, an estimated 23% of global greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions is associated with land use, 11% of which are from deforestation and forest land conversions. With current temperature trends indicating that it is entirely possible for human-driven global warming to reach 1.5°C by 2040, managing climate change is an urgent, all-hands-on-deck situation, making this net-zero emissions pledge a much welcome coarse of action.
For palm oil, we can expect more methane capture at mills as a key route to the transition. At the moment, several companies have already begun taking steps to manage emissions generated throughout their supply chain. Wilmar, for example, has methane capture facilities installed at its Indonesian and Malaysian mills to reduce GHG emissions generated from palm oil mill effluents (POME). According to its website, a single methane capture facility is capable of reducing a mill’s emission by 90%; as of 2020, Wilmar reported that it has successfully avoided nearly 600,000 tCO2e of GHG emissions using 25 of these facilities.