08/11/2007 (CNN), London - Destruction of Indonesia's peatlands to make way for the production of palm oil is leading to a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions, a problem that will get worse as demand for biofuel grows, Greenpeace reported Thursday.

The environmental group said Indonesia's carbon-rich peatlands are being razed, drained and burned to make way for plantations of oil palm trees, which are used for the production of palm oil.

Palm oil is used in food products ranging from potato chips to cream cheese and is also used for biofuel.

The destruction of the peatlands releases 1.8 billion tons of greenhouse gas each year, Greenpeace said. That figure represents 4 percent of global emissions from an area representing 0.1 percent of the land on earth.

"We're talking about enormous carbon stores basically being released into the atmosphere when these forests are being burned and cleared," said Andy Tait, a forests campaigner for Greenpeace

Tait said the razing of the peatlands is so destructive that the planting of palm oil trees cannot make up for the greenhouse gases emitted in the process.

In a report released Thursday titled "Cooking the Climate," Greenpeace also said only a third of the land cleared since 1990 has been planted with oil palm plantations.

Greenpeace said large food and consumer product companies including Unilever, Nestle, and Procter & Gamble are driving the peatland destruction because the companies account for a significant volume of global palm oil use.

These companies, Greenpeace said, "are complicit in the expansion of palm oil at the expense of Indonesia's peatlands."

The group called on companies that use palm oil to make sure it does not originate from destroyed peatland.

In response to the report, Procter & Gamble said it is committed to sustainable palm oil and shares guidelines on sustainability to its suppliers.

"We encourage our suppliers to follow sustainable practices and we support various initiatives for the sustainable production and use of palm products, such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)," Procter & Gamble said in a statement.

Greenpeace said the RSPO's efforts are hampered because member companies often can't trace the palm oil beyond the processor, leaving companies unable to determine whether it comes from destroyed peatlands.

Tait said the problem will get worse as demand for biofuel increases. Greenpeace said compared to 2000, demand for palm oil is predicted to more than double by 2030 and triple by 2050.

But Tait said using biofuel from crops connected to deforestation defeats the purpose of trying to produce an eco-friendly fuel.

"Using biofuel made of palm oil to tackle climate change is like putting gasoline on a fire to put it out," he said.

To highlight the effects of peatland destruction, Greenpeace focused on the Indonesian province of Riau, where it said a quarter of the country's oil palm plantations are located and more are planned.

The group said that if Riau's peatlands are destroyed, the resulting greenhouse gas emissions would be equivalent to the amount emitted by the rest of the world in a year.