|
 Brazil's sugarcane industry is applauding the approval by the European Parliament of the Renewable Energy Sources Directive. Brazilians see the measure as a clear sign that a sustainable market for renewables in transport will be created in the European Union.
The decision by the European Union, which calls for the adoption of a 10% mandatory target by 2020 for renewables in the transport sector, is "the positive signal biofuels producers, consumers and investors have been waiting for," according to Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) president and CEO, Marcos Jank.
The mandatory 10% target, which includes comprehensive sustainability criteria for biofuels and bioliquids, will allow the European Union to move away from a fossil fuel based economy and face challenges posed by climate change and energy security, while diversifying its energy sources.
The decision by the European Parliament, which endorses the political agreement reached by the European Council on December 11, is an important and balanced step forward according to Jank:
"With the Directive, Europe moves closer to defining a sustainable market for renewable fuels in transport, including but not limited to biofuels, and Brazilian sugarcane-based ethanol is in a position to contribute sustainably to the EU's ambitious objectives."
Already a significant player on the EU ethanol market, Brazil's sugarcane industry is confident the sustainability criteria set out in the Directive will be complied with.
UNICA, in a statement, says that it welcomes the progressive increase of the 'efficiency threshold', which gradually increases the requirements for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions savings compared to fossil fuels, from 35% when the Directive enters into force in 2010, to 50% by 2017 and 60% for new projects launched as of 2017.
The establishment of areas of high biodiversity and carbon stock as "no go areas," already a reality in key sugarcane growing and ethanol producing regions of Brazil, is also supported by the Brazilian cane industry.
"Strict national legislation and the industry's own initiatives already in place, plus land use planning instruments like the agro-ecological zoning adopted in September 2008 in the most important sugarcane growing region in the world, the State of São Paulo, are realities in Brazil.
"Add to this the federal government's upcoming national mapping of regions suitable for sugarcane, and you have a solid set of safeguards ensuring that the expansion of sugarcane does not endanger sensitive areas or compete for land with other agricultural activities," adds Marcos Jank.
UNICA also commented on what it calls the balanced approach chosen by the EU regarding the impact of so-called "indirect land use changes" (ILUC) on GHG emissions.
According to Jank, the decision to pursue the development of an appropriate methodology is a positive sign that the European Commission wants to properly assess these effects, indicating a willingness to rely on sound scientific criteria, accepted and applicable globally:
"To ensure potential ILUC is properly analyzed, the scientific community has to be given enough time to deliver reliable, solid results."
To keep the sustainability criteria in the Directive from becoming new non-tariff barriers to trade, UNICA is urging the EC to publish clear, comprehensive guidelines for their implementation.
"The certification of sustainable biofuels is the next step to complete this process, which needs to be addressed as soon as possible. In that respect, the EU-Brazil Summit on December 22 in Rio de Janeiro provides an excellent opportunity for advancement. UNICA hopes our leaders will include this issue on the event agenda," concludes Jank.
The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) represents the top producers of sugar and ethanol in the country's South-Central region, the heart of the sugarcane industry.
Along with its 116 member companies, UNICA provides information on the sector, including statistics and specific research, and enters into dialogue with stakeholders in support of Brazil's sugarcane, ethanol and bioelectricity sectors. Its member companies account for more than 60% of Brazil's sugar and ethanol production.
Service
Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association
Website: www.portalunica.com.br
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose. 
The push of vigilante groups in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (shantytowns) in the last three years is the most important and alarming information of the just-released study by the Rio de Janeiro University's Violence Research Center (Nupev-Uerj). 
A dispute over drug trafficking territory in Rio de Janeiro has intensified lately, leaving in its wake unprecedented acts of violence, such as the downing of a police helicopter in the northern zone of the city on October 17. Three policemen died and another two were injured. This event has drawn the attention of the international media, who are raising the issue of public security for the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio.
No doubt that one of the clause should talk about....THE SUGARCANE JOBS WORKING IN SLAVES ALIKE CONDITIONS...EVEN IN THE MOST WEALTHIEST AND DEVELOPED BRAZILIAN STATE OF SP !
Brazil....STOP CHEATING THE DEVELOPED WORLD...STOP LYING TO THE DEVELOPED WORLD....STOP HIDING TO THE DEVELOPED WORLD.....STOP STAYING YOUR ETHANOL IS COMPETITIVE TO OIL AT US$ 35.- PER BARREL EQUIVALENT.....as you loudly repeated, with a blue face, time and again.....since 2005 !