Document ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2005-0161-3114
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2010-03-26T04:00Z

Sugarcane as a key element against Global Warming 

to be highlighted at Green Week in Brussels

São Paulo, June 23, 2009 – What does sugarcane have to do with Global
Warming? Everything, when you consider Brazil’s highly successful,
30-year experience with sugarcane as a feedstock for ethanol. In place
since the mid-70s, the largest program in the world to replace a fossil
fuel with renewable energy has saved some 600 million tons of greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions. It would take 20 years for six billion trees to
achieve the same results.

Details of the Brazilian success story will be presented at a panel on
Wednesday, June 24, during Green Week, the largest annual conference on
the European Union’s environmental policies, scheduled for June 23 to
26 in Brussels. At its booth in the exhibit area, the Brazilian
Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA), the largest organization
representing Brazil’s sugar-energy industry, will also provide
detailed information about the efficiency of large-scale production and
use of sugarcane ethanol as a motor fuel to reduce GHG emissions. In
Brazil, the biofuel replaces over half the country’s gasoline needs by
volume, making gasoline the alternative fuel. Flex-fuel cars introduced
in 2003, which run on any mixture of gasoline and ethanol, now account
for 34% of Brazil’s entire light vehicle fleet and close to 90% of new
light vehicle sales.

According to the senior international affairs advisor to UNICA’s
president, Géraldine Kutas, the idea is to detail the impressive
performance of sugarcane in the production of ethanol and other
value-added products, and its subsequent impact on Brazil’s energy
matrix: 46% of it is composed by renewable sources. ”Brazil could be a
low-carbon economy. Unfortunately, even though the country is a large
renewable energy producer, it is also the fourth largest emitter of
carbon, because of deforestation. The fight against climate change
requires ambitious public policies and joint leadership from government
and the public sector,” Kutas concludes. 

The International Energy Agency has recently confirmed that sugarcane
ethanol can deliver a verifiable reduction in GHG emissions that can
exceed 100% when compared to the use of gasoline, provided that surplus
electricity generated in the production process is sent to distribution
grids. All of Brazil’s nearly 400 sugar and ethanol mills are
self-sufficient in electricity, and a growing number of mills are
generating a surplus by using cane straw and bagasse, which is what’s
left of the sugarcane after it has been processed into ethanol and
sugar. More than 100 countries around the world already grow sugarcane,
and UNICA advocates that many of them can benefit from the same
cane-based energy technology developed in Brazil.

During Green Week, Kutas will participate in the panel “Climate
Change: What can be asked of emerging economies?” sponsored by UNICA
and organized by the Friends of Europe group, one of the main
independent think-tanks in Brussels. The panel is part of the
simultaneous event “European Policy Summit - Climate Change: keys to a
concerted policy shift,” which will include presentations from the
director-general of the European Commission for Environment and Climate
Change Strategy Job Delbeke, the president of the International Union
for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and founder of Development
Alternatives – a Delhi-based Non-Governmental Organization, Ashok
Khosla, and the senior manager of the Center for Carbon Capture and
Storage of the South African National Energy Research Institute, Tony
Surridge.

The event, organized by the DG Environment of the European Commission
and themed “Climate Change: act and adapt,” expects to bring 3500
participants from EU institutions, corporations, non-governmental
organizations, public officials and members of the scientific community
and academia. For more information, visit the website:   HYPERLINK
"http://greenweek2009.alligence.com/" 
http://greenweek2009.alligence.com/ 

UNICA’s presence at the event falls within the scope of the
Apex-Brasil/UNICA project, launched in January of 2008. This partnership
with the Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil) of
Brazil’s Federal Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade,
is designed to globally promote Brazilian sugarcane-based ethanol as a
clean and renewable energy.

UNICA AT GREEN WEEK:

-Booth 45, 2nd floor, in the Exhibition area

 HYPERLINK "http://www.unica.com.br/en" http://www.unica.com.br/en 

ABOUT UNICA

The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) represents the top
producers of sugar and ethanol in the country’s South-Central region,
especially the state of Sao Paulo, which accounts for about 50% of the
country’s sugarcane harvest and 60% of total ethanol production. UNICA
develops position papers, statistics and specific research in support of
Brazil’s sugar, ethanol and bioelectricity sectors. In 2008, Brazil
produced an estimated 565 million metric tons of sugarcane, which
yielded 31.3 million tons of sugar and 25.7 billion liters (6.8 billion
gallons) of ethanol, making it the number-one sugarcane grower and sugar
producer in the world, and the second-largest ethanol producer on the
planet behind the United States, which produces ethanol from corn.

MORE INFORMATION:

UNICA - Brussels

Anna-Karin Friis, communications officer

(32) 489-325876 /   HYPERLINK "mailto:annakarin@unica.com.br" 
annakarin@unica.com.br 

CDN Corporate Communications – São Paulo, Brazil

Rosa Webster - (5511) 3643 2707 /  HYPERLINK
"mailto:rosa.webster@cdn.com.br" rosa.webster@cdn.com.br 

Marli Romanini - (5511) 3643 2756 /  HYPERLINK "mailto:marli@cdn.com.br"
marli@cdn.com.br 

Mariane dos Santos - (5511) 3643 2730 /  HYPERLINK
"mailto:mariane.santos@cdn.com.br" \o "mailto:mariane.santos@cdn.com.br"
mariane.santos@cdn.com.br 

 IEA, 2008. From 1st to 2nd generation biofuels technologies: An
overview of current industry and R&D technologies, International Energy
Agency, Paris.