At Harvard University, Mario Garnero Highlights Brazil's Competence in Biofuels

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 24,2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mario Garnero, Chairman of Brasilinvest, Brazil's pioneer merchant bank, stated yesterday during a conference at Harvard University's Faculty Club that Brazil's leadership in biofuels is driving it to a prime position in international relations.

Garnero's address was delivered at the Sustainability Forum, Harvard University. His talk centered in emerging ideas on integrated regional approaches for managing the complex interactions of environment and development in rapidly growing parts of the world.

Garnero was a guest speaker of Harvard's Sustainability Science Program, which helps devise best practices with the aid of experts from China, Brazil, and India.

He was introduced to the audience by Professor Paul Moorcroft, one of the leading academics in the field of Sustainable Development at Harvard University.

"Mario Garnero is a pioneer of biofuels. His role in producing ethanol fuel-based vehicles when Brazil was experiencing a severe petroleum crisis in the 1070s and 80s is paramount," said Professor Moorcroft.

For William Clark, Chair of the Sustainability Science Program at Harvard University, Garnero came to Harvard "with a deep knowledge of the implications of our science for Brazil, and what communities should be engaged to assure that the work carried out at Harvard is relevant and known to those whose decisions on economic development it might affect in Brazil."

During his talk, Garnero stressed that nearly 80% of Brazil's cars run on flex-fuel engines. "Biodiesel and aviation applications are also leading the way to the future. Deep-water oil reserves discovered along Brazil's shores will also help propel Brazil to the rank of an energy superpower," Garnero indicated. "It is such a tough challenge that the R&D involved will produce major positive effects to Brazil's technological capacities," he added.

Garnero argued for an expanded cooperation and trade in biofuels between US and Brazil. "There is a lot we can build on the 2007 MOU between the US and Brazil on Ethanol. New and clean energies are a great platform to re-launch hemispheric cooperation." Garnero is to chair a major international conference on the Green Economy at the Harvard Club in New York on 26 September 2011.

SOURCE Forum das Americas