Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply - Embrapa

Executive Summary
The purpose of the Brazilian Agroenergy Plan is to organize
and develop a technology research, development, innovation, and
transfer proposal with a view to guaranteeing the sustainability and
competitiveness of the agroenergy chains. The Brazilian Agroenergy
Plan also establishes institutional arrangements to structure research:
an agroenergy consortium and a new Embrapa unit, Embrapa
Agroenergy. It indicates government actions in the international biofuel
markets and in other spheres of interest.
The proposed strategy is linked to the overall policy of the federal
government as set forth in the document Agroenergy Policy Guidelines.
The world energy demand is expected to rise 1.7% per annum from
2000 to 2030, when world consumption will have attained 15.3 billion TPE
(ton petroleum equivalent) p.a. according to the scenario envisaged by the
Institute for International Economics (MUSSA, 2003). Unless the world energy
matrix is altered, fossil fuels will account for 90% of the increase. Current
proven worldwide petroleum reserves, notwithstanding, total 1.137 trillion
barrels, 78% of which are located in OPEC countries, an amount sufficient
for approximately 40 years at the current rate of consumption. It is obvious
that both reserves and consumption will increase in the intervening period,
although the reserves will probably grow at a lower rate.
The economic viability of bioenergy necessarily depends on an
evaluation of its cost when compared with the price of petroleum. At the present
time (2006), tax-free alcohol and gasoline prices even out when the price of
an oil barrel fluctuates from US$ 30.00 to US$ 35.00. Since bioenergy
technology has yet to attain maturity, it is estimated that parity will only be
achieved when the oil barrel price is US$ 60.00 in the case of biodiesel,
although a sharp declining trend is foreseen for the near future. The economic
conditions are right for the Brazilian agribusiness to include biodiesel as one
of its most important components, in addition to ethanol and other types of
agroenergy. Social (employment, income, migration flows) and environmental
(climate changes, pollution) pressures reinforce and consolidate this position,
as well as bring the timetables forward.
A series of advantages make Brazil the worldwide leader of energy
agriculture and the bioenergy market – the biomarket. The first advantage is
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