Emulating new policy goals into past successes: Greenhouse gas emissions mitigation as a side effect of biofuels programmes in Brazil

Abstract

The Sustainable Development – Policies and Measures (SD-PAM) proposal, in which developing countries could achieve greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation goals as side effects of sustainable development programmes, is a creative option for international climate-driven agreements that consider the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’. Analysing and comparing the Brazilian Ethanol Program (Proalcool) and the Brazilian Biodiesel Production Program (PNPB) can lead to a better understanding of how SD-PAM, or any other similar tool, as, for example, Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMA), which are initiatives under evaluation within UNFCCC, could shape or reshape domestic policies in developing countries if they had been considered as SD-PAM (or NAMA) in their inceptions. Both programmes were analysed from a programme theory perspective to investigate the possibility of having the programmes reshaped for the achievement of UNFCCC objectives under the SD-PAM mechanism. The comparison between the two programmes led to the understanding that, despite differences in their primary goals, implementation and maturity, their outcomes are very similar so far, very much focused on large-scale, capital-intensive agricultural sectors. In this regard, SD-PAM, or other similar tool, could play an important role for guaranteeing the sustainability of some developing countries' programmes, by bringing on board the perspectives of international negotiations on climate change.

Keywords:

• biodiesel
• biofuels
• ethanol
• GHG emissions mitigation
• NAMA
• PNPB
• Proalcool
• SD-PAM

Notes

Introduced in Brazil in March 2003, flex-fuel type vehicles represented approximately 2.7% of the total number of vehicles produced in Brazil in that year. However, approximately 80% of the vehicles produced in the country in 2009 were of the flex-fuel type (Coelho et al., 2006).

Added to gasoline in a range of 22% to 24% since the year 1998, the mandatory percentage for addition was fixed at 25% in July 1, 2007 (DOU, 2009). As of today (December 2011), however, this range is again varying between 18–25%, as the availability of ethanol in the domestic market has been reduced due to bad weather conditions, low gasoline prices as well as competition with high sugar prices.