Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association Welcomes California Air Resources Board's Continued Review of Biofuels Emissions

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced today, following the recommendation of its Expert Workgroup and staff, that it will revisit its lifecycle greenhouse gas emission modeling particularly with regard to the indirect land use change (ILUC) estimates under the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS).

The following statement should be attributed to Joel Velasco, Chief Representative in North America of the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA):

"We applaud CARB's decision to continue reviewing the science of indirect emissions from biofuels production. As we stated in our comments during the LCFS rulemaking process, 'the science used in determining these market-mediated, indirect impacts is quite limited and highly uncertain.' The Board's decision today to 'update the land use change and other indirect effects values in the Spring of 2011' for a variety of biofuel feedstocks, including sugarcane, ensures that as the science evolves, so will the regulations.

"As California regulators have previously confirmed, sugarcane ethanol is a low carbon renewable fuel that can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed that – even when factoring in the indirect land use effects -- sugarcane biofuels can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 60% compared with gasoline. We are certain that sugarcane's contribution to mitigating climate change will only improve in the years ahead, in part because of policies such as the LCFS that encourage better performance and the deployment of cleaner, more sustainable technologies.

"California has a right to lower the carbon footprint of transportation fuels used by its citizens, and the biofuels industry is prepared to help the state meet this challenge. This would be easier to achieve if the LCFS wasn't challenged in the courts, and the U.S. Congress lets the 54-cents-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol expire at the end of this year. We hope that today's decision will lead other ethanol producer groups to drop their litigation against the state of California, and help create a cleaner energy future with low carbon biofuels leading the way."

To learn more about the environmental benefits and economic advantages of sugarcane biofuels, please visit www.SweeterAlternative.com.    

ABOUT UNICA

The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) represents the top producers of sugar and ethanol in the country's South-Central region, especially the state of Sao Paulo, which accounts for about 50% of the country's sugarcane harvest and 60% of total ethanol production. UNICA develops position papers, statistics and specific research in support of Brazil's sugar, ethanol and bioelectricity sectors. In 2008, Brazil produced an estimated 565 million metric tons of sugarcane, which yielded 31.3 million tons of sugar and 25.7 billion liters (6.8 billion gallons) of ethanol.

SOURCE Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA)