Brazil

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Brazil

Population:	188,078,227[1]
GDP (PPP):	$1.616 tril. (2006 est.)[1]
Petroleum – consumption – imports: – Gasoline to diesel ratio:	2.194 mil. bbl/day (2005 est.)[1] 572,600 bbl/day (2001)[1] 53.9% diesel, 26.2% gas, 17% ethanol (by volume) (2006) [2]
Electricity – consumption – Main sources:	391.7 billion kWh (2004)[1] 82% hydro, 5% gas, 3% biomass, 3% oil, 3% nuclear, 2% coal[3]
Renewable energy targets:	3.3 GW added by 2016 from wind, biomass, small hydro[4]
Ethanol – production: – target: – feedstocks:	4,227 mil. gal/yr (2005)[5] 20-25% blending mandate[6] sugarcane
Biodiesel – production: – target – feedstocks:	343 mil. gallons/yr[7] 5% biodiesel in 2010[7] soybeans, castor beans, sunflower

Brazil is the world's second largest producer of ethanol (mainly using sugar cane as a feedstock). The use of ethanol replaces some 40% of total gasoline usage.^[8]. However, Brazil uses more diesel than gasoline and biodiesel production is still small, although growing rapidly. Other forms of bioenergy remain a relatively small proportion of Brazil's energy mix, although many ethanol plants are powered by burning sugar cane bagasse to generate electricity.^[8]

Contents 1 Events 2 Issues 2.1 International cooperation 3 Policy 4 News 5 Organizations 5.1 International organizations 5.2 Governmental organizations 5.3 Nongovernmental organizations 5.4 Industry organizations 5.5 Labor organizations 5.6 Academic organizations 6 Publications 7 Websites 7.1 Blogs 8 Notes

Events

• 3-4 April 2007, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Biofuels Markets Americas. Contact info@greenpowerconferences.com for more information.

• 23-27 June 2008, Curitiba, Brazil: 3rd International Bioenergy Congress & BIOTech Fair. (Themes: bioenergy, biotechnology)

Issues

International cooperation

• Brazil-Indonesia Consultative Committee on Biofuels. Bilateral agreement with Indonesia.

Policy

• National Program of Biodiesel Production and Use.
  • Social Fuel Stamp - This program attempts to deal with the question of social sustainability of biofuels by providing tax incentives for biodiesel producers to purchase feedstocks from small family farms in poorer regions of the country.
    • To receive the stamp producers must agree to:
      • "To purchase minimum percentages of raw materials from family farmers, 10% from regions North and Mid-West; 30% from the South and Southeast and 50% from the Northeast and the Semi-Arid Region; and
      • "To enter into contracts with family farmers establishing deadlines and conditions of delivery of the raw material and the respective prices, and to provide them with technical assistance."^[9]

News

• IDB lends $269 million for three Brazilian ethanol plants 23 July 2008 press release by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) regarding the Board's approval of the loan today: “At a time of soaring food and energy prices, it is crucial to develop renewable fuels that don’t compete with food crops,” said IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno. “After examining the social, environmental and economic dimensions of these projects for more than a year, we concluded that they will produce clean and sustainable energy and provide quality jobs—without impacting food prices in any way.”
  • "The IDB is developing a “Biofuels Sustainability Scorecard” that will facilitate assessment by all interested parties of dimensions, such as land, climate, water use and biodiversity, in a potential biofuels project. This interactive scorecard will be posted on the IDB’s website in August."[1]

• Biofuel policies in OECD countries costly and ineffective, says report, 16 July 2008 press release by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): "The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is a primary reason for current biofuel policies but the savings are limited. Ethanol from sugar cane - the main feedstock used in Brazil – reduces greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 percent compared to fossil fuels. But emission reductions are much smaller from biofuels based on feedstocks used in Europe and North America.""[2]

• Report finds land use change in the Amazon is first and foremost a product of ranching (PDF file), 11 July 2008, Amigos da Terra (Brazil). "In 2007, for the first time, the Legal Amazon passed the historical threshold of 10 million head of cattle slaughtered, with an increase of 46% over the figure in 2004. Growth in production in the Amazon was decisive for Brazil to become, since 2004, the second largest global producer of beef, even when the EU is treated as a single country. (...) The explosion of ranching in the Amazon over the last decade was responsible for a volume of emissions of greenhouse gases of between 9 and 12 billion tons of CO₂-equivalent (...), that is, an order of magnitude comparable in volume to two years of emission by the USA."
  • See the report: The Cattle Realm: A new phase in the livestock colonization of Brazilian Amazonia

• Biofuels Battle: Tear Down The Brazilian Wall, 1 July 2008 in the Wall Street Journal's Environmental Capital blog: "Biofuels have few friends lately. But Brazil’s biofuel industry found a big one —- U.S. Senator Richard Lugar."
  • "Sen. Lugar thinks Brazilian ethanol -- made from sugarcane rather than corn -- could help lower U.S. gasoline prices, which have reached record levels. Unica, not surprisingly, thinks the same, and blames Washington’s $0.54 per gallon tariff on Brazilian ethanol for American pain at the pump."

• Biofuels in Brazil: Lean, green and not mean, 26 June 2008 in The Economist. The article argues that ethanol from Brazilian sugar cane is environmentally friendly and unlikely to impact food prices, and that the US should drop its tariff on imported ethanol.

• Brazil signs deal to export sustainable ethanol, 25 June 2008, Reuters: "A group of Brazilian ethanol companies signed a deal to export certified sustainable ethanol to Sweden, in the world's first agreement of such a kind, they said"

• Brazil's president says biofuel crops are not pushing up food prices, 10 April 2008 by the International Herald Tribune: "Brazil's president insisted Thursday that crops used for ethanol are not responsible for driving up food prices, and said Haiti — where food riots have erupted recently — could benefit from a biofuel industry."

• Sao Joao 24mW biogas power plant comes on stream, 29 January 2008, Biofuel Review, the biogas plant will extract methane from a landfill and use it to generate power for the city of Sao Paolo.

• Amazon Deforestation Surging Again, 18th January 2008. According to Reuters, "Deforestation of the Amazon has surged in recent months and is likely to rise in 2008 for the first time in four years, a senior Brazilian government scientist said on Wednesday."

• "Corn... fuel... fire! U.S. corn subsidies promote Amazon deforestation", 8 January 2008 press release from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute: According to STRI researcher William Laurance, "Amazon deforestation and fires are being aggravated by US farm subsidies...that promote American corn production for ethanol." Corn subsidies also result in farmers reducing production of soy -- thus increasing global soy prices, which in turn promotes burning of forests in the Brazilian Amazon in order to clear land for soy cultivation.
  • According to Laurance, "The evidence of a corn connection to the Amazon is circumstantial, but it's about as close as you ever get to a smoking gun."[3]

• Brazil case accents need for new biofuels rules. Brazil is preparing to finally take their case against US ethanol tariffs before the WTO. It is expected that regardless of the results of the case, the WTO will be prompted to develop new rules for the regulation of biofuels.

• Brazilian president calls on Africa to join biofuels revolution. According to Biopact, the president called for Africa to ensure its energy independence and economic growth through taking advantage of the biofuels market."

• Japanese Biofuel Project in Brazil Creates 50,000 Direct Jobs, 19 June 2007 from Brazzilmag.com. Japan's Itochu and Petrobras have agreed to cooperate on a project in Pernambuco State in Brazil's Northeast, involving construction of a large "Canal of the Savannah" and conversion of 150,000 hectares to planting of sugarcane, castor beans and other biofuel crops. Japan is interested in developing biofuel sources in Brazil and elsewhere to help meet their own biofuel and Kyoto Protocol targets.

• Brazil assessing 10x increase in ethanol production; 10% of Global Gasoline in 18 years, 1 April 2007 from Tierramerica.net. A government group led by the Interdisciplinary Group for Energy Planning of Campinas University concluded that Brazil could produce 205 billion liters of ethanol by 2025, which is about 10% of projected gasoline demand. This could be done "without sacrificing forests, protected areas or food cultivation". One of the key assumptions of the group is the development of cellulosic ethanol technologies that can use bagasse, the main by-product of sugar ethanol production.

• Brazil and Indonesia in biofuels agreement, 15 March 2007 from Green Car Congress. Brazil and Indonesia have signed an agreement for cooperation on biofuels. The memorandum for the creation of a Brazil-Indonesia Consultative Committee on Biofuels sets the stage for Brazil to help Indonesia develop its ethanol industry. Indonesia is planning on using 2.25 million hectares to grow sugarcane and cassava as feedstocks for ethanol production.

• Bush Seeks Ethanol Alliance With Brazil, 4 March 2007 by AP, reported that U.S. President Bush will sign an agreement with Brazilian President da Silva on Friday, 9 March, in São Paulo to "to develop standards to help turn ethanol into an internationally traded commodity, and to promote sugar cane-based ethanol production in Central America and the Caribbean to meet rising international demand." The article notes that "coming up with technical standards to define quality levels for ethanol is key to turn it into a commodity that could be traded like oil."

• U.S., Brazil plan ethanol partnership 2 March 2007 by USA Today, reports that an international partnership to promote trade in ethanol is to be launched during U.S. President Bush's visit to Brazil next week. The article reports that the "USA and Brazil produce more than 70% of the world's ethanol" and that the partnership will promote "research to make ethanol production more efficient" and work to create "a global market."

• Brazil increases biodiesel target to 5% by 2010 on rising production potential 27 February 2007 from Biopact.com. Brazil is now producing 640 mil. liters of biodiesel/yr, but after 13 factories come online in the first half of 2007, total production is expected to reach 1.3 bil. l/year. That will be double the 2% blending target for 2008 and as a result Brazil is moving up their 5% target from 2013 to 2010. As Brazil only imports 5% of its diesel, this will mean the end of diesel imports.

• Brazil's Tecbio Plans Aviation Biofuel by 2008, September 2006, from Bioproducts Alberta, a firm in Brazil claims to be working on the secret formula for biokerosene, which will be sent to NASA for testing and evaluation in two years at the most.

• President da Silva's Statement on Biofuels and Ethanol: Fuel for Thought 24 July 2006 (link to BiofuelsMarketplace.com of a statement originally printed in the Wall Street Journal).

Organizations

International organizations

• International Biofuels Forum - Brazil is a founding member of this group, which is working to develop standards for biofuels and facilitate their development as an international commodity.

Governmental organizations

• Brazilian Reference Center on Biomass (CENBIO)
• Brazilian National Biodiesel Production and Use Program (Portuguese only)
• Ministry of Science and Technology

Nongovernmental organizations

• Brazilian Forum of Non-governmental Organizations and Social Movements (FBOMS)
  • FBOMS issued the report "Sustainability Criteria and Indicators for Bioenergy," February, 2006.
• Federation of Rural Workers of Brazil
• Fórum de Resistência aos Agronegócios
• Rede Social

Industry organizations

• Copersucar
• Cosan S/A
• Dedini S/A
• UNICA (Sugar Cane Industry Association/União da Indústria da Cana-de-Açúcar) (sugarcane)
• ORPLANA (Sugarcane Growers Organization of the Center South Region of Brazil)

Labor organizations

• Central Union of Workers (CUT)
• Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST)

Academic organizations

• University of Campinas (São Paulo)

Publications

See books, reports, scientific papers, position papers and websites for additional useful resources.

• Climate change, biofuels and eco-social impacts in the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado (PDF file). by Donald Sawyer. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Volume 363, February 2008, Pages 1747–1752.
  • This article cautions that the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado regions are at risk of conversion to degraded pasture as a result of biofuels expansion, and offers policy recommendations to mitigate these impacts.
• Sustainability of Brazilian Bioethanol (PDF)by Edward Smeets, Martin Junginger, André Faaij (Utrecht University);Arnaldo Walter, Paulo Dolzan (State University of Campinas); commissioned by SenterNovem, The Netherlands Agency for Sustainable Development and Innovation, August 2006.
• Agribusiness and Biofuels: an Explosive Mixture - Impacts of Monoculture Expansion on Bioenergy Production in Brazil by Silvia Noronha, Lúcia Ortiz (general coordination), Sergio Schlesinger (editorial coordination); Friends of the Earth, Brazil, 2006.
• Liquid Biofuels for Transportation in Brazil: Potential and Implications for Sustainable Agriculture and Energy in the 21st Century (PDF file),GTZ, 2005.

Websites

• Biofuelsnow.com - Website primarily focused on biofuels in Brazil.

Blogs

• Ethablog - "The only blog in English dedicated to Brazilian ethanol"

Notes

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/br.html
2. ↑ http://www.hubbertpeak.com/BR/
3. ↑ http://www.iea.org/Textbase/stats/electricitydata.asp?COUNTRY_CODE=BR
4. ↑ REN21 Renewables Global Status Report 2005 p. 20.
5. ↑ http://www.ethanolrfa.org/industry/statistics/
6. ↑ The Emerging Biofuels Market: Regulatory, Trade and Development Implications (PDF File) prepared by Simonetta Zarrilli; UNCTAD, 2006, p. 20-21.
7. ↑ ^7.0 7.1 http://biopact.com/2007/02/brazil-increases-biodiesel-target-to-5.html
8. ↑ ^8.0 8.1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Brazil
9. ↑ National Program on Biodiesel Production and Use Pamphlet (English)

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