Evaluation of Sustainable Palm Oil Production Certification via LCA

As the main producer of vegetable oil, palm oil industry is focusing its development on sustainable production via certification scheme. However, poor registration rate for the certification scheme, especially among independent smallholders (ISHs) is at an alarming level considering they accounted for a significant amount of plantation area globally. It is crucial to understand the sustainability impact of the certification to enhance the adaptation rate. This chapter demonstrates the application of cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) to evaluate and compare the performance of certified and un-certified oil palm fresh fruit bunches production among ISHs. A Malaysia-based case study has shown at least 10.116% decrease in most of the environmental impact and 39% higher in costing for certified ISHs.