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Last Saturday marked a milestone in changing the EU sugar regime. Lifting the European sugar quota is an important step towards a more competitive European sugar industry.. This measure will however remain incomplete if the sector continues to be protected from international markets.

"Not including sugarcane products in the Mercosur negotiations could jeopardise one of the most beneficial trade deals for the EU
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Leticia Phillips, North American Representative, The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) will participate in a session titled, Sustainability for the Sugar Industry on Tuesday, September 12, at 4:45 p.m.

As MEP Bas Eickhout’s stated, European policymakers are only credible in criticising Trump if they can themselves deliver at home. Let’s hope they return to Brussels in September with emboldened ambitions when it comes to transport emissions.

On April 22, we celebrate International Mother Earth Day. Many people want to take action on that occasion by planting a tree or informing themselves on climate change solutions and environmental conservation. However, in today’s era of post-truth politics and information overload, we often struggle to make sound judgements about what is best for the environment and what is agenda-driven rhetoric. Same goes for lawmakers who are in charge of setting the policies that will lead us to a more environmentally friendly economy and lifestyle.

The revision of the Renewable Energy Directive represents a tremendous opportunity to foster the further development of clean energy in the European Union for decades to come. But the current proposal lacks ambition and is missing a key opportunity in helping to reach the Paris Agreement targets, especially with regards to the transportation sector.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has accepted comments on a proposal that would allow, among other things, biofuel producers to partially process renewable feedstocks at one facility and further process them into renewable fuels at another facility. EPA intends this broad rule to increase the economics and efficiency of producing biofuels, particularly advanced and […]

At Politico’s recent debate on decarbonizing Europe’s transport,Maroš Šefčovič said that there is an international consensus that first-generation biofuels should be phased out. This is simply not true. Many countries including Australia, Brazil and the US are all producers of 1G biofuels and have no intention of phasing out these important CO2-reducing petrol alternatives.

This is our last post of the year. 2016 will definitely go down in history as an eventful year, both on the political and policy levels. The Commission had promised us a ‘year of delivery’, and it did deliver indeed.

"Are we not losing sight of the main objective: reduce GHG emissions from transport?

My feeling after having read and digested the new proposal on the Renewable Energy Directive is that by 2030 there will probably not be a massive change in how much we emit from our transportation activities."

The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (known by the acronym “UNICA”) today commented on the final 2017 renewable fuel standards from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The association’s statement should be attributed to UNICA’s President, Elizabeth Farina.

The Paris Agreement on Climate Change entered into force in September, starting a coordinated effort by the world’s governments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and limit climate change impacts. It’s far from the end, though. Entering into force starts the hard work—meeting each nation’s decarbonization targets. Every country’s intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) will reduce emissions and expand economic opportunities for clean energy. More than any other nation, Brazil’s INDC relies on biofuels to meet these goals.

In its Strategy to decarbonize the transport sector, the Commission made the decision to focus on advanced biofuels only and phase out all conventional biofuels by 2030. If like us you like to think you are a logical person, right now, you’re thinking ‘why’?

The publication of the Communication on low emission mobility and the announcement of the upcoming new Renewable Energy Directive put biofuels, once again, in the front stage. Scientific evidences tell us: there are sustainable conventional biofuels even when you scratch the surface!

Today the European Commission published a Communication on low-emission mobility. While we acknowledges the Commission’s clear support signal towards advanced biofuels we are also deeply concerned about the gradual phase out of first-generation biofuels.