Sustainability and Environmental Impacts of Sugarcane Biofuels

Abstract

The production of ethanol from sugarcane in Brazil has reached 27 billion liters – 27% of the world’s total biofuel engenderment. The remaining ethanol production is from corn in the United States, wheat and sugar beet in the European Union, and cassava in Vietnam and Thailand. The Environmental Protection Agency of the United States considers ethanol from sugarcane in Brazil an advanced biofuel, since it reduces CO₂ emissions by more than 89% compared to gasoline. In fact, more than 100 countries have adopted mandates for mixtures of biofuels in gasoline/diesel. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (2016), among the different bioethanol sources, sugarcane ethanol is currently the most cost-effective commercial biofuel and has the highest energy balance of all commercial bioethanol options. However, questions about the sustainability of sugarcane ethanol production, such as land use conflicts, competition with food production, water consumption, quality of jobs, and others, have been raised. The authors present in this chapter, based on the Brazilian experience, evidence of the highly positive environmental, social, and economic sustainability of ethanol production from sugarcane, as well as perspectives for other sugarcane ethanol-producing countries.

Annex: GBEP Sustainability Indicators (GBEP 2011)

Pillars GBEP’s work on sustainability indicators was developed under the following three pillars, noting interlinkages between them:
Environmental	Social	Economic
Themes GBEP considers the following themes relevant and these guided the development of indicators under these pillars:
Greenhouse gas emissions; productive capacity of the land and ecosystems; air quality; water availability; use efficiency and quality; biological diversity; land-use change, including indirect effects	Price and supply of a national food basket; access to land, water, and other natural resources; labor conditions; rural and social development; access to energy, human health, and safety	Resource availability and use efficiencies in bioenergy production, conversion, distribution, and end use; economic development; economic viability and competitiveness of bioenergy; access to technology and technological capabilities; energy security/diversification of sources and supply; energy security/infrastructure and logistics for distribution and use
Indicators
1. Lifecycle GHG emissions	9. Allocation and tenure of land for new bioenergy production	17. Productivity
2. Soil quality	10. Price and supply of a national food basket	18. Net energy balance
3. Harvest levels of wood resources	11. Change in income	19. Gross value added
4. Emissions of non-GHG air pollutants, including air toxics	12. Jobs in the bioenergy sector	20. Change in consumption of fossil fuels and traditional use of biomass
5. Water use and efficiency	13. Change in unpaid time spent by women and children collecting biomass	21. Training and requalification of the workforce
6. Water quality	14. Bioenergy used to expand access tomodern energy services	22. Energy diversity
7. Biological diversity in the landscape	15. Change in mortality and burden of disease attributable to indoor smoke	23. Infrastructure and logistics for distribution of bioenergy
8. Land use and land-use change related to bioenergy feedstock production	16. Incidence of occupational injury, illness, and fatalities	24. Capacity and flexibility of use of bioenergy