Reassessing the environmental impacts of sugarcane ethanol production in Brazil to help meet sustainability goals (original) (raw)
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Spatial Variation in Environmental Impacts of Sugarcane Expansion in Brazil
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In the past decades, sugarcane production in Brazil has expanded rapidly to meet increasing ethanol demand. The large majority of this expansion occurred in Sao Paulo state. We used an integrated approach considering location-specific biophysical characteristics to determine the environmental impacts of sugarcane expansion and their spatial variation in Sao Paulo state (2004–2015). The included environmental impacts are greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, biodiversity, soil erosion, and water quantity. All impacts were integrated into a single environmental performance index to determine trade-offs between impacts. Our results show a strong spatial variation in environmental impacts and trade-offs between them. The magnitude and direction of these impacts are mostly driven by the type of land use change and by the heterogeneity of the biophysical conditions. Areas where expansion of sugar cane has resulted in mostly negative environmental impacts are located in the center and east of th...
Expansion of Sugarcane Ethanol Production in Brazil: Environmental and Social Challenges
Ecological Applications, 2008
Several geopolitical factors, aggravated by worries of global warming, have been fueling the search for and production of renewable energy worldwide for the past few years. Such demand for renewable energy is likely to benefit the sugarcane ethanol industry in Brazil, not only because sugarcane ethanol has a positive energetic balance and relatively low production costs, but also because Brazilian ethanol has been successfully produced and used as biofuel in the country since the 1970s. However, environmental and social impacts associated with ethanol production in Brazil can become important obstacles to sustainable biofuel production worldwide. Atmospheric pollution from burning of sugarcane for harvesting, degradation of soils and aquatic systems, and the exploitation of cane cutters are among the issues that deserve immediate attention from the Brazilian government and international societies. The expansion of sugarcane crops to the areas presently cultivated for soybeans also represent an environmental threat, because it may increase deforestation pressure from soybean crops in the Amazon region. In this paper, we discuss environmental and social issues linked to the expansion of sugarcane in Brazil for ethanol production, and we provide recommendations to help policy makers and the Brazilian government establish new initiatives to produce a code for ethanol production that is environmentally sustainable and economically fair. Recommendations include proper planning and environmental risk assessments for the expansion of sugarcane to new regions such as Central Brazil, improvement of land use practices to reduce soil erosion and nitrogen pollution, proper protection of streams and riparian ecosystems, banning of sugarcane burning practices, and fair working conditions for sugarcane cutters. We also support the creation of a more constructive approach for international stakeholders and trade organizations to promote sustainable development for biofuel production in developing countries such as Brazil. Finally, we support the inclusion of environmental values in the price of biofuels in order to discourage excessive replacement of natural ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, and pasture by bioenergy crops.
Environmental, land-use and economic implications of Brazilian sugarcane expansion 1996–2006
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 2009
Governments are promoting biofuels and the resulting changes in land use and crop reallocation to biofuels production have raised concerns about impacts on environment and food security. The promotion of biofuels has also been questioned based on suggested marginal contribution to greenhouse gas emissions reduction, partly due to induced land use change causing greenhouse gas emissions. This study reports how the expansion of sugarcane in Brazil during 1996–2006 affected indicators for environment, land use and economy. The results indicate that sugarcane expansion did not in general contribute to direct deforestation in the traditional agricultural region where most of the expansion took place. The amount of forests on farmland in this area is below the minimum stated in law and the situation did not change over the studied period. Sugarcane expansion resulted in a significant reduction of pastures and cattle heads and higher economic growth than in neighboring areas. It could not be established to what extent the discontinuation of cattle production induced expansion of pastures in other areas, possibly leading to indirect deforestation. However, the results indicate that a possible migration of the cattle production reached further than the neighboring of expansion regions. Occurring at much smaller rates, expansion of sugarcane in regions such as the Amazon and the Northeast region was related to direct deforestation and competition with food crops, and appear not to have induced economic growth. These regions are not expected to experience substantial increases of sugarcane in the near future, but mitigating measures are warranted.
Energy Policy, 2011
Three sustainability aspects of bioethanol production in Brazil were considered in this paper. Results show that the recent expansion of sugarcane has mostly occurred at the expense of pasturelands and other temporary crops, and that the hypothesis of induced deforestation is not confirmed. Avoided greenhouse gas emissions due to the use of anhydrous ethanol blended with gasoline in Brazil (E25) were estimated as 78%, while this figure would be 70% in case of its use in Europe (E10). Conversely, considering the direct impacts of land use change, the avoided emissions (e.g., ethanol consumed in Europe) would vary from À 2.2% (i.e., emissions slightly higher than gasoline) to 164.8% (a remarkable carbon capture effect) depending on the management practices employed previous to land use change and also along sugarcane cropping. In addition, it was shown that where the bulk of sugarcane production takes place, in state of São Paulo, positive socio-economic aspects are observed. The general conclusion is that a significant share of ethanol production in Brazil can be considered sustainable, in particular regarding the three aspects assessed. However, as production conditions are extremely heterogeneous, a generalization of results is not possible.
GCB Bioenergy, 2011
This article reviews the history and current state of ethanol production from sugarcane in Brazil and presents a strategy for improving ecosystem services and production. We propose that it is possible to produce ethanol from sugarcane while maintaining or even recovering some of Brazil's unique neotropical biodiversity and ecosystem climate services. This approach to the future of sustainable and responsible ethanol production is termed the 'midway' strategy. The 'midway' strategy involves producing the necessary biotechnology to increase productivity while synergistically protecting and regenerating rainforest. Three main areas of scientific and technological advance that are key to realizing the 'midway' strategy are: (i) improving the quality of scientific data on sugarcane biology as pertains to its use as a bioenergy crop; (ii) developing technologies for the use of bagasse for cellulosic ethanol; and (iii) developing policies to improve the ecosystem services associated with sugarcane landscapes. This article discusses these three issues in the general context of biofuels production and highlights examples of scientific achievements that are already leading towards the 'midway' strategy.
Biodiversity & Bio-fuels in Brazilian Agricultural Areas
Transparency and targeting of public policies as well as the questionning about what has been and will be done for achieving energy sustainability have been a problem for the Brazilian sugar-ethanol sector. It regards the negative impacts, such as loss of habitats, fragmentation and disturbance of natural areas, among others which the large-scale production and its expansion could generate. At the state level, Sao Paulo is the biggest sugar cane producer in Brazil and the first State which has developed the Agro-environmental Zoning for sugar-ethanol Sector defining appropriate areas to sugar cane expansion. This study shows the incorporation of the biodiversity analysis into the Agro-environmental zoning in order to discuss the future of conservation and land use planning. Although the inclusion of important areas (not protected by law) is a positive aspect of the zoning, the most part of Sao Paulo State may become a sugarcane monoculture; despite the restrictions areas indicated o...
Land use dynamics and sugarcane production
Contributions to climate change mitigation and the environment edited by Peter Zuurbier Jos van de Vooren A vision proposed by 8 Sugarcane ethanol Chapter 4 Mitigation of GHG emissions using sugarcane bioethanol Sugarcane ethanol Executive summary over previous productive areas (meaning new land has been incorporated into agricultural production, which might be attributed to the conversion of forest to agriculture or to the use of previously idle areas). Total agricultural area growth-the sum of all crops, including sugarcane, and pastures-in the period was around 3.3 million ha. 5. Projections indicate that harvested sugarcane area in Brazil will reach 11.7 million ha and other crops 43.8 million ha in 2018, while pasture area will decrease around 3 million ha. The total land area in Brazil is 851.196.500 ha. 6. The expansion of crops, except sugarcane, and pasture land is taking place despite of the sugarcane expansion. This is important because it reinforces that, even recognizing that sugarcane expansion contributes to the displacement of other crops and pasture, there is no evidence that deforestation caused by indirect land use effect is a consequence of sugarcane expansion. 7. Sugarcane ethanol from Brazil does comply with the targets of greenhouse gases (GHG) reduction. 8. The GHG emissions and mitigation from fuel ethanol production/use in Brazil are evaluated for the 2006/07 season, and for two scenarios for 2020: the 2020 Electricity Scenario (already being implemented) aiming at increasing electricity surplus with cane biomass residues; and the 2020 Ethanol Scenario using the residues for ethanol production. Emissions are evaluated from cane production to ethanol end use; process data was obtained from 40 mills in Brazilian Centre South. Energy ratios grow from 9.4 (2006) to 12.1 (2020, the two Scenarios); and the corresponding GHG mitigation increase from 79% (2006) to 86% (2020) if only the ethanol is considered. With co-products (electricity) it would be 120%. LUC derived GHG emissions were negative in the period 2002-2008, and very little impact (if any) is expected for 2008-2020, due mostly to the large availability of land with poor carbon stocks. Although indirect land use changes (ILUC) impacts cannot be adequately evaluated today, specific conditions in Brazil may lead to significant increases in ethanol production without positive ILUC emissions. 9. Brazil has achieved very high levels of productivity (on average 7.000 litres of ethanol/ha and 6,1 MWhr of energy/ha), despite its lower inputs of fertilizers and agrochemicals compared with other biofuels, while reducing significantly the emissions of greenhouse gases. The ending of sugarcane burning in 2014 is a good example of improving existing practices. 10. Production of ethanol in Brazil, which has been rising fast, is expected to reach 70 billion litres by the end of 2008. Approximately 80% of this volume will be used in the transport sector while the rest will go into alcoholic beverages or will be either used for industrial purposes (solvent, disinfectant, chemical feedstock, etc.). 11. When evaluating key drivers for ethanol demand, energy security and climate change are considered to be the most important objectives reported by nearly all countries that engage in bioenergy development activities. A next factor is the growth in demand for transport fuels. A third factor is vehicle technologies that already enable large scale use of ethanol.
Land Use and Management Effects on Sustainable Sugarcane-Derived Bioenergy
Land
Bioenergy is an important and feasible option for mitigating global warming and climate change. However, large-scale land-use change (LUC) to expand bioenergy crops, such as sugarcane, raises concerns about the potential negative environmental and socioeconomic side effects. Such effects are context-specific, and depending on the LUC scenario and management practices, several co-benefits can be attained. We reviewed the literature and discussed how LUC and best management practices affect key components of sustainability (e.g., soil health, soil carbon (C) sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) emissions, nutrient cycling, water quality, among others) of sugarcane-derived bioenergy production in Brazil. Sugarcane expansion has occurred predominantly over pasture areas, although converting croplands could be also an environmentally feasible option. The land transition from low-productivity pastures to sugarcane cultivation seems to be a sustainable pathway to increase bioenerg...