Ethanol experiences, a reflection on brazilian biofuels production

Abstract

Starting in 1975, the Brazilian ethanol programme is the world's oldest and most advanced biofuels pro- gramme. Nowadays, ethanol accounts for 40% of total fuel consumption in Brazil and the country is market leader, responsible for 45% of the world's ethanol fuel production. The Brazilian ethanol programme can be a source of inspiration for other countries willing to introduce ethanol production. Ideally these countries should try to sustain the positive while reducing the negative sustainability effects of ethanol production. This article discusses the social, environmental, and economic impacts of the Brazilian ethanol programme. Keywords: biofuels, Brazil, ethanol. 1 THE ROLE OF BIOFUELS IN MEETING ENERGY DEMANDS A sustainable future asks for an increasing share of renewable energy sources. Renewables have less environmental effects and make countries less dependent on oil. The latter is especially important for developing countries as oil price increases have 'devastating effects on many of the world's poor coun- tries' and lead to 'increasing risk for many developing economies' (1). These risks can be reduced if developing countries are willing to start the growth of energy crops. The latter seems to be the case as the market for energy crops is booming. Although the growth of energy crops has contributed to rural devel- opment in some places, there is also a growing concern about the negative impacts of the production of biofuels. The downsides become apparent in situations such as in South-East Asia, where the demand for palm oil has resulted in considerable losses of tropical forest. More recently, a tortilla-crisis emerged in Mexico, where the locals could no longer pay the higher prices of maize fl ower for their tortillas due to the growing demand for maize as biofuel (1). Brazil provides a different picture in today's newspapers. The country has been using ethanol from sugarcane as a fuel since the late 1920s. After the oil-crisis dictator Ernesto Geisel decided - in 1975 - to create incentives for a home-grown fuel market based on ethanol derived from sugarcane. This Programa Nacional do Alcool (National Alcohol Programme) aimed at the replacement of all automobile fuels from fossil sources (such as gasoline) by ethanol (2). In this article, we refl ect on the Brazilian ethanol programme. The aim of the article is to make an inventory of the sustainability effects of growing and using biomass, and of measures to be taken for a more sustainable production and use. This can be of interest for other countries in the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia that have the potential to seek to replicate the Brazilian ethanol programme (3). The inventory is based on a review of scientifi c articles and policy documents. Relevant material was found by using the search term Brazil and ethanol in the search engines Scopus and Google Scholar. Additional information was collected during an expert meeting on Brazilian ethanol organised by the Dutch NGO ICCO (Interchurch Organisation for Development Co-operation) and during discus- sions with Brazilian stakeholders in Brasilia and Mato Grosso. Following the idea of sustainability balances (4), we categorised the reported and observed impacts of ethanol production into social, environmental, and economic benefi ts and drawbacks. The benefi ts and drawbacks found were put on a topic list and discussed in semi-structured interviews with three experts from ICCO, the Brazilian NGO Rede Social, and from the Department of Science, Technology and Society of Utrecht University. The interviewees validated and further specifi ed our initial fi ndings.