Honored to present the findings of our 2021 study on the impacts of 20 vegetable oils on various SDGs at the 8th Cross Sector Social Interactions Symposium by Wageningen University and Research this 22-24 June 2022.

Abstract

The 2030 Agenda consisting of 17 goals has been adopted by the United Nations. Since its adoption in 2015, an important question was raised by the policymaker and scientific communities i.e., to what extent each industry contributes to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to the economic, social, and environmental aspects of sustainable development. In this regard, while vegetable oils are among the industries that could provide a great contribution to the SDGs, however, there is still a lack of study that highlights the contribution of each vegetable oil to the SDGs. The paper describes the evaluation of twenty (20) types of vegetable oils based on SDG indicators looking at economic, social, and environmental aspects. It provides data and scientific evidence on among others contribution to GDP, gross to production value, food supply, nutrients providence, productivity, land use efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, pesticides use, and water consumption. The paper uses global agricultural data (FAO, U.S Department of Agricultural) and a literature review. The results showed that each vegetable oil provides a significant contribution to the SDGs, but they vary among different vegetable oil and among producing countries. These facts show that there is a need to establish a more holistic, balance, and non-discriminative approach towards all types of vegetable oils based on the SDGs.