Study supports use of ethanol in Europe
Valor Econômico
The European Union announced on Thursday the results of a scientific study that supports the use of ethanol in Europe, points the Brazilian production as the most efficient from an environmental point of view and suggests liberalization measures to allow a "considerable" importation of the Brazilian fuel.
The "Global trade and environmental impact study of the EU biofuels mandate" was ordered by the block and elaborated by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPR). The purpose is to meet the demands of the European Parliament on the effects of a change of the indirect use of the land in the production of biofuels. The document was disclosed precisely by EU trade area, which signals that at least part of the European Commission approves the idea.
The study presents positive diagnostics on the effects of the reduction of emissions using first-generation biofuel and it suggests the liberalization for the product. It shows the change of the indirect use of the land indeed decreases the benefits of the cut of emissions, but that such is not a threat to the environmental viability of the EU policy of increasing to 5.6% the use of biofuel in transports by 2020, required to the goal of using 10% of renewable energy in this period. "The findings on the environmental impact of the Brazilian ethanol are very positive", said the Ambassador of Brazil in the EU, Ricardo Neiva Tavares. The document awards the sugarcane ethanol an eco-efficiency seal similar to that of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The relevance of the study increases because the European mistrust on the impacts of the biofuels in the production of food, whose global rise in prices generated a serious crisis between 2007 and 2008, has grown in the past three years. The studies have also showed negative impacts of ethanol on the indirect use of the land, with an alleged increase of deforestation being mentioned as necessary for the increase of the production, which is denied by the Government and companies in Brazil. But the new study, considered the most serious of the four ordered - and, therefore, with greater influence -, makes comparisons and points the Brazilian ethanol as the most efficient biofuel, and capable of reducing by 71% the emissions of greenhouse effect gases compared to the fossil fuels.
The central scenario for meeting the goal of using 5.6% of biofuels on land transportation by 2020 in the EU points to an increase of the consumption of ethanol and biodiesel of 17.8 million tons in the 27 member countries. In the case of biodiesel, most of the production will come from the very EU. But most of the ethanol should be Brazilian.
The study estimates that of all land to be used in Brazil for the increase of ethanol and soy biodiesel aiming at meeting the European demand, 58% will be of Brazilian Cerrado (tropical savanna ecoregion), 14% of pasture, 15% of primary forests (Amazon) and 12% of other types of land. But it remarks the scenario is based on the past deforestation, without considering the recent reduction. There are effects of the change in the indirect use of the land because of the European mandate, but they are minimized. The indirect use would result in additional emissions of 5.3 million tons of CO2. But the savings of emissions with the use of biofuels is greater, of 18 million tons. In other words, the biofuels reduce the emission of nearly 13 million tons of carbon in 20 years. The EU will achieve such result, says the study, by reason of the production and consumption that will privilege the more efficient biofuels - from sugarcane and from Brazil.