This publication aims to set the stage for the discussion about both challenges and concerns of sugarcane ethanol by providing the scientific context, the basic concepts and the approach for understanding the debate on biofuel-related issues. This book largely limits itself to sugarcane ethanol and its contribution to climate change mitigation and the environment.
Brazil is the global leader in ethanol exports, providing 70% of the world's supply in 2006. While official accounts of the Brazilian government’s experiment with biofuels laud it as a global model for sustainable biomass production, it is increasingly being criticised and opposed by national social movements.
Although the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) could see billions of dollars invested in the development of renewable energies in developing countries, this report argues that successful development of viable markets in renewable technologies is highly dependent on context-specific factors.
This report looks at the context-specific factors behind the success of three renewable energy developments that have taken place in developing countries- without significant foreign investment or the CDM.
The rapid increase in global biofuel production and consumption, particularly of ethanol, has an associated derived demand for crops to produce the necessary feedstock. This working paper assess the implications of global biofuel expansion on Brazilian land usage at the regional level.
The document reveals that most of the expansion in global ethanol consumption outside the US is met by Brazilian ethanol production. The paper analyses the regional land-use changes in Brazil that would result from an increase in ethanol consumption beyond projected levels and finds that:
This report studies the situation of biofuels in Brazil. Some of the conclussions arrising from the article are: first the development of first generation ethanol implementation has not provided stimulus to spur cellulosic or advanced biofuel legislation and developement. Second, if cellulosic or advanced biofuels are to be developed to large scale and play an important role in the future fuel transport mix, Brazil should be taking more steps into the promotion of such fuels, helping to diversity the feedstock sources as it currently does with sugarcane in first generation.
