EU and Brazil join forces over biofuels (The Guardian)

EU leaders are concerned about an ethanol production that meets environmental, labour and social standards, according to this story by The Guardian.
It is a good picture for Brazil and other poor and developing countries in Central America, the Caribbean and Africa, according to President Lula from Brazil. In Brazil thebiofuels allowed a 40% reduction of [...]

L’Union européenne fait marche arrière sur les biocarburants (Le Monde)

Original and Portuguese translation available.
All of a sudden, 27 energy ministers from the EU gathered and decided to re-read the article 3 for the renewable energy plan. As mr Jean-Louis Borloo, the French environment and energy minister, said, “The member states realised that the Commission’s plan specifies that 10 percent of transport needs must come [...]

Desenha-se um cenário de equilíbrio no etanol (Gazeta Mercantil)

As most government haters in Brazil, the former minister of agriculture doesn’t want the government to intervene in the market. However, mr Roberto Rodrigues suggests that the Brazilian government should stabilize the sugar market. I beg your pardon?

Arbitragem no Consecana (Folha de São Paulo)

The former minister of agriculture, mr Roberto Rodrigues, gave an unusual perspective for today’s ethanol and sugar sector in Brazil.

Pavan Sukhdev : “Il faut donner un prix à la biodiversité” (Le Monde)

Original here, Portuguese translation here. Although not related directly to the past few posts I have made (agriculture and biofuels in Brazil), it has a close relation to my object of studies (agriculture in Brazil). Therefore, I am blogging.
Não se trata de frear o desenvolvimento a que diversos países aspiram, mas devemos ter consciência das [...]

Lean, green and not mean (The Economist)

Pedro Doria today drew my attention to an interesting article that outlines a few pros and cons of Brazilian ethanol. I already left a comment there but I also decided to write here. Cutting to the chase:

The petrol prices in Brazil haven’t seen a raise for the past three years. A side effect is that [...]

Drivers of Food Price Increases: Is it fair to blame biofuels? (New Energy Finance)

Again, the food vs. fuel debate. I consider this as a very important issue, since the poor suffer a lot more even from slight changes on food prices.
“Drivers of Food Price Increases: Is it fair to blame biofuels?” (from New Energy Finance) is a study to which I haven’t had full access. However, after reading [...]

It’s Corn vs. Soybeans in a Biofuels Debate (NY Times)

Original article here.
The study cited on this story affirms that the fuel vs. food debate is something we should be concerned about. Indeed, as we previously saw here, most of the current generation of biofuels under production in the US is based on transforming corn grain in ethanol, or soybean in biodiesel. Always good to [...]

Getting Serious About Biofuels (Science)

The author, Steven Koonin, points out several important issues for developing the biofuels and making them a globally viable solution to the energy issue. (As he well observes at the footnote, “Brazil is a singular counterexample, where favorable agricultural conditions and a flexible processing infrastructure allow the majority of the country’s road transport to be [...]

Azúcar en el depósito (La Vanguardia)

Spanish original here (title: “Sugar in the deposit”); Portuguese translation here (title: Sugarcane and ethanol are becoming Brazil’s symbols”).
El país del carnaval, la samba, el fútbol, el café y la caipiriña tiene ya otro emblema por bandera: la caña de azúcar. Aunque los portugueses introdujeron este cultivo en el país hace ya más de 500 [...]