Scientists weigh downside of palm oil

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – Only a few years ago, oil from palm trees was viewed as an ideal biofuel: a cheap, renewable alternative to petroleum that would fight global warming. Energy companies began converting generators and production soared.

Now, it’s increasingly seen as an example of how well-meaning efforts to limit climate-changing carbon emissions may backfire.


Marcel Silvius, a climate expert at Wetlands International in the Netherlands, led a team that compared the benefits of palm oil to the ecological harm from destroying virgin Asian rain forests to develop lucrative new plantations.

His conclusion: “As a biofuel, it’s a failure.”

AP