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As the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) celebrates its thirteenth anniversary, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed new requirements for 2019. While there are certainly elements of the proposal that deserve applause, EPA could strengthen it in ways that would encourage advanced biofuels to play a greater role greening the U.S. transportation sector.

Since December last year the closing of the EU-Mercosur trade negotiations has continually seemed tantalizingly just around the corner. It is now to the EU to send an unambiguous signal that it really cares about and believes in a fair and free trade deal that will be a tide that raises all boats – not just European ones. This is now crunch time in these lengthy negotiations: the balls is clearly in the EU’s court to get a deal over the line and it needs to step up to its responsibilities.

The UNICA Forum, held in São Paulo last week , showed that the bio-economy will continue to be a priority for Brazil far after the presidential elections, whoever the winner.

On 17 May representatives of the European Parliament, member states and the European Commission will meet to negotiate the provisions on biofuels in REDII. This might be the last chance to find a compromise that ensures the future of a technology that is critical to reduce carbon emissions in transport.

The EU has the opportunity to close two major trade deals in 2018: with Mexico and with the Mercosur trading block. But if it fails, the EU’s credibility of promoting free and fair trade would be seriously undermined, as it would be clear that its appetite for free and fair trade goes only so far as its vested interests are not impacted.

Many observers were surprised last year when Brazil imposed a limit on duty free ethanol imports. With the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) policy in place since September, we take a closer look at this temporary solution to what UNICA hopes will be a temporary problem.

As every year, the 2018 edition of the Forum for the Future of Agriculture (FFA) which was held in Brussels last week was another impressive event. There was a clear message of the need for greater cooperation and trade among the different agricultural regions of the world.

The EU-Mercosur deal is a worthwhile prize: the largest bilateral trade deal yet, connecting two markets of almost 800m consumers and at the same time setting a signal against the protectionist tendencies pushed by the Trump administration. Let's go for it!

The European Parliament will soon vote on the recast of the renewables directive (RED II). One of the most effective solutions available today to decrease carbon emissions in transport is the use of sustainable biofuels. The European Parliament needs to make sure that we harness solutions that can tackle climate change in the short-term. Sustainable bioenergy, particularly sugarcane ethanol, is one of those options.

As we come to the close of a busy year, it’s worthwhile to take time to pause and reflect on everything that we’ve achieved this year. For UNICA it has indeed been an interesting and eventful year, full of activity on two key dossiers that are of critical importance to the Brazilian sugarcane industry: the proposals for the next edition of the Renewable Energy Directive (REDII), and of course, the EU-Mercosur trade negotiations.

Building, in part, on the successes and lessons learned from two signature American policies, Brazil is poised to launch a government program that will support the continued development and use of low-carbon, clean biofuels. This new initiative, dubbed RenovaBio, will play a key role in meeting Brazil’s ambitious commitments made at the Paris climate summit in December 2015.

Next Tuesday the EU Parliament’s ITRE committee will vote on the Commission’s RED II proposal. It is important to get it right before the text goes to the whole house for approval on 13 December. We can’t wait for the perfect solution. We need all available solutions NOW.

Visit UNICA’s booth at COP23, Bonn zone

. Attend our discussion on how biofuels can fight climate change and promote sustainable development at the Brazilian Pavilion on 15 November at 14:00 CET with speakers from ApexBrasil, SE4ALL / Below 50, the World Bank, and UNICA.

The EU-Mercosur trade deal is a once in a generation opportunity, don’t let it slip away. Sweeten the deal!

Climate change does not wait for the roll out of new technologies - we need to use every tool that is at our disposal today.