Brazilian Biofuels Policy (RenovaBio): Overview and generation of decarbonization credits by biodiesel production facilities

Abstract

Brazil developed its National Biofuels Policy (RenovaBio) to meet goals established at the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, updated in the context of the Glasgow Climate Pact, and to achieve the scenario established in the Brazilian Energy Plan. RenovaBio is a public policy that has as its main objectives the establishment of goals for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the recognition of the importance of biofuels in the Brazilian energy matrix through the audited certification of biofuel producing plants. RenovaCalc is a RenovaBio tool used to assess the energy-environmental efficiency of installations to calculate the emission of decarbonization credits that can be sold to fossil fuel distributors and other interested parties. In this sense, this work presents an evaluation of the profile of the biodiesel producing plants certified from October 2019 to December 2021, in addition to discussing data such as the carbon emission intensity of the production cycles, the Energy-Environmental Efficiency Note and the eligible volume of biodiesel. The results indicate that RenovaBio has become a national project that should contribute to the energy transition to a low-carbon economy and enable actions to decarbonize technological routes of raw materials conversion.