Indonesia - Emissions from peat burning

Years available: 2015-2024

Data last updated: 27 Oct 2025

GHG emissions from fires on peat soils in a given year were estimated based on the overlap between burned areas (Ministry of Forestry, 2025) and peat areas (Ministry of Agriculture, 2019), multiplied by an emission factor of 824 t CO₂ eq ha⁻¹, following the average emission estimates provided by Rodríguez Vásquez et al. (2021). This value represents the average CO₂ released per hectare during a single peat fire event, derived from measurements of burn depth, bulk density, and emission factors from peatland sites in Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Malaysia. Because peat fires may result from multiple land uses, emissions were allocated to the oil palm sector according to the proportion of modified peatlands within each FFB production unit that are covered by oil palm. Modified peatlands are defined as peat soils used for agriculture, including rice paddies, oil palm, pulpwood plantations, aquaculture, and other agricultural uses, as identified by MapBiomas Indonesia Collection 4 (2025). This choice reflects the fact that fire is often used as land management to clear the land before it is used agriculturally and might then spread to neighbouring areas (Purnomo et al., 2017), whereas fires in intact peatland forests are uncommon (Marlier et al., 2015).