Biofuels in Brazil: debates and impacts

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the two major components of Brazil's biofuels initiatives – ethanol from sugarcane and biodiesel from a variety of raw material sources. With the crisis unleashed at the end of 2008, huge question marks hang over the timetable and the scope of future investments in the sector. Even prior to the current crisis the biofuels debate was suffering a sharp volte-face with earlier euphoria being replaced by sustained critiques from NGOs, social movements, influential representatives of the techno-bureaucracy, and global agrifood firms. As a result governments are currently reviewing their policies, further exacerbating the uncertainties surrounding biofuels. Brazil is already assuming a protagonist role in the promotion of biofuels and its biofuels programs occupy a central place both in global debates on this issue and in the eventual emergence of global biofuels markets.

Keywords:

• Brazil ethanol
• biofuels
• biodiesel
• sugarcane

Notes

¹For a general account of Brazil's position in the global agrofood system see Wilkinson (2009) and for a broader analysis of agrofood within a political economy perspective see McMichael (2009).

²noticias.terra.com.br/…/0,,013139331-E18177,00.html

³This argument has now become extremely fragile with the discussions in early 2010 on importing ethanol from the US to create stocks for the period between harvests (Veja 2010).

⁴ www.agenciabrasil.gov.br/noticias

⁵EU production capacity was estimated at 21 million tons in 2009. To calculate the conversion, a biodiesel density of 0.88 g/mL was employed (ORNL 2003).

⁶But, as noted in footnote two, this success may be short-lived.

⁷In the country as a whole, pasture land was the preferred terrain to expand for the sugarcane sector. From 2002–2006 approximately 90% of the new sugarcane area took place over pastures intended to milk and beef production (Novo et al., 2010, this volume).

⁸For a detailed analysis of the interaction between dairy, beef, and sugarcane sectors in Brazil, see Novo et al. (2010, this volume).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

John Wilkinson

We would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.