In the last 13 years the Brazilian consumers have prevented nearly 352 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) from going into the atmosphere through the use of ethanol.

The announcement was made Tuesday by local sugarcane industry association Unica.

Brazil's CO2 offset mark, which is greater than the sum of the annual emissions registered in 2014 of five other South American countries, reveals the important contribution of ethanol in the construction of a more sustainable future in the transportation sector, said Unica's emissions and technology consultant Alfred Szwarc.

According to Szwarc, ethanol has a CO2 emissions reduction capacity of up to 90% when compared to fossil fuels and of 80% when compared to diesel.

Earlier this month, state-owned energy research firm EPE said Brazil's ethanol production grew 6% in 2015, reaching 30 billion litres (8 billion gallons). Also in 2015, the country's sugarcane industry provided more than 20,000 GWh of biomass power for the National Interconnected System (SIN).

 

Source: http://renewables.seenews.com/news/ethanol-helps-brazil-offset-352m-tonnes-of-co2-in-13-years-526404