Challenges for energy guidelines in crop-based liquid biofuels development in Brazil

The search for sustainable practices as a way to accelerate the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has promoted the improvement of liquid biofuel supply chains on a global scale. Against this background, Brazil has presented an accelerated growth of ethanol and biodiesel production, as well as in the pursuit to the development and use of green diesel (hydrotreated vegetable oil). This scenario is the result of incentive and investment policies implemented in the last decades, placing Brazil in a prominent position in the liquid biofuels production chain, bringing important representation for the country in the international market. However, economic and political crises caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine have caused, among other difficulties, production fluctuations and concerns about the world’s energy supply. Such factors have challenged the liquid biofuels market in Brazil, affecting the Brazilian biofuels policy, the RenovaBio, and generating uncertainties in this sector. This paper gathers a comprehensive overview of the current panorama of crop-based liquid biofuels in Brazil, and how the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Eastern Europe have affected the ethanol and biodiesel industry in the country. Evidence shows that more than ever the Brazilian government needs to intervene so that the liquid biofuels sector can resume its steady development and evolution, particularly by appeasing the unnecessary competition between biodiesel and green diesel, to foster the country’s potential to be more efficient in clean energy production and more independent from fossil fuels.