Sustainability of Bioethanol

Executive summary

The Dutch society recognizes the need for sustainable production and use of biomass. This has been expressed

by environmental groups and the Parliament. The Dutch government decided to seek solutions by developing

sustainability criteria and certification of biomass by a commission sustainable production of biomass

(duurzame productie van biomassa, DPB). Between January 2006 and July 2006 these criteria have been

developed. Parallel to these developments, in February 2006 this project was commissioned by SenterNovem

on behalf of the Dutch Ministry for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment. As Brazil is one of the

most likely countries to export bio-ethanol from sugar cane to the Netherlands, the sustainability of Brazilian

bio-ethanol is the main topic of this report.

The main objective of this report was a comparison of Dutch sustainability criteria and the current Brazilian

practice, and quantification of the consequences for ethanol production in terms of production method and

production costs if these sustainability criteria are applied. To this end, the Dutch sustainability demands for

bio-ethanol were investigated, including stakeholder consultation in the Netherlands (NGO’s, industry), and

an extensive assessment of the current ecological, economic and social impacts of ethanol production based

on sugar cane in Brazil was carried out.

While the current study contains many different types of uncertainties, no prohibitive reasons where identified

why ethanol from SÐ"Јo Paulo principally could not meet the Dutch sustainability standards set for 2007. In

many impact categories, Brazilian ethanol from sugar cane scores average to (very) positive, see also table I

for a summary. For a number of other criteria, problems are identified, but it also appears that these may differ

strongly between the individual plants. Furthermore, for most of these issues, measures can be identified to

improve performance (when needed).

For the future and the whole of Brazil, too many uncertainties remain to determine whether also additional

criteria from 2011 onwards can be met. First of all, it is as yet unclear how additional land use for sugar cane

may cause indirect / induced land-use, and how large the actual impacts will be on land use, biodiversity etc.

Second, it is also uncertain whether and how the Dutch sustainability criteria will deal with these indirect

impacts, as these criteria are not yet clearly defined.

It is important to recognize that sustainability criteria