Biodiesel in Brazil Should Take Off with the Newly Introduced Domestic Biofuels Policy: RenovaBio

Abstract

Our planet’s climate has experienced changes mainly ascribed to the emission of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), which accumulates in the atmosphere and causes an increase in the Earth’s average temperature. In 2015, heads of state and scientists from several countries met in Paris to discuss measures aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit that temperature rise to 2°C by the end of this century. As CO 2 needs to be banned from our environment for the sake of our own planet, it is reasonable for biofuels to pres- ent themselves as clean alternatives for the gradual replacement of fossil fuels. Biodiesel stands as an option. After 2005, some public policies were created in Brazil as an attempt to establish biodiesel as a replacement for mineral diesel, mainly in the transport sector. Although moderately successful, none of them compare in scope and reach to RenovaBio, a domestic biofuels policy that will make the production and use of biodiesel take off, once and for all. Therefore, herein, we present a brief overview on the status of the biodiesel production and use before the enactment of this new biofuels policy and the forecast of what it is expected to happen after its implementation.