According to the report, 1.8 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions are released by the burning of Indonesian peatland to make way for palm plantations. The fires, on territory that covers less than 0.1% of the land on earth, create 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Okay, so palm oil was being used in products from cream cheese to margarine to chocolate way before anyone ever banned trans fats. But the growing demand for palm oil to replace the evil grease comes at a competitive time—in 2020, 10% of the fuel sold in the EU and 20% of the fuel in India is supposed to come from biofuels, and palm oil is much more productive per acre than soya or rapeseed, so it’s a likely candidate. Demand for palm oil, experts estimate, should more than double by 2030 and triple by 2050. By 2015, Indonesia plans to set aside another 4 million acres for biofuel alone.

Another problem that the report, also summarized last week in the Guardian, highlights is that Indonesia has destroyed nearly 70 million acres of forest since 1990, supposedly to plant palms, but that only 22 million acres have since undergone conversion. “This clearly implies,” the report states, “that most of the companies obtained permits to convert the forest only to gain access to the timber.”

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has been created to discuss ethical and ecological standards for palm oil production, and includes among its members Unilever, Tesco, Nestle, Cargill, ADM and Cadbury’s, but Greenpeace fears that they’re just paying lip service to the idea, “creating the illusion of sustainable palm oil, justifying the expansion of the palm oil industry.”

Looks like attempts at eliminating one evil seem to have engendered another…