Embrapa Agroenergia debates clean energy in agriculture at a parallel event to COP-27

Embrapa Agroenergia participated in the debate “Agro producing clean energy and boosting sustainability”, part of the official program of COP-27, the United Nations Climate Conference, last Monday, 14/11, at the studios of National Confederation of Industry (CNI), in Brasília – DF. The general head of Embrapa Agroenergia, Alexandre Alonso, moderated the event, which had as debaters the Head of Sustainable Development at Raízen, Bruno Maier, and the Director of Geoenergetics, Alessandro Gardemann.  

The panel interacted directly with the Brazil Pavilion at COP-27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, where 196 UN member countries are meeting to reinforce and enforce the Paris Agreement, whose main goals concern the reduction of pollution and deforestation and the use of renewable energy, an issue in which Brazil occupies an important place. 

At the opening of the panel, Alonso stated that the three themes of the debate, agriculture, agroenergy and sustainability, are very important for the country and for Embrapa. Alonso gave a brief summary of the trajectory of Brazilian agriculture, highlighting the transformations of recent decades that took Brazil from the role of food importer to one of the main producers of food, fiber and bioenergy in the world in just over four decades.

“Brazilian agriculture went through three major phases, a first phase of expansion of productive areas to regions more suitable for planting; a second phase of increased productivity with massive investments in technology; and finally the sustainability phase, which is the current phase,” he said.

Alonso also presented the numbers that demonstrate the strength of Brazilian agriculture, such as those that show successive records of agricultural productivity. “We reached close to 300 million tons in the grain harvest, apart from livestock, dairy, vegetable and fruit production,” he said, also highlighting that, in addition to being productive, Brazilian agriculture is quite diversified. “We have more than 300 species being cultivated in the country and more than 350 products derived from national livestock farming being exported to more than 200 territories”, he concluded.

Regarding the sustainability of Brazilian agriculture, the general manager of Embrapa Agroenergia spoke of the increase in conservation practices encouraged in recent years by the Low Carbon Agriculture Plan, the ABC Plan. “The wave of sustainability is not exactly a new wave, and I think that the successful experience that the country has had in the production and use of bioenergy and biofuels for some decades is proof of this”, stated Alonso, emphasizing that Brazil today has a percentage of renewability of the Brazilian energy matrix of approximately 45%, much higher than most developed countries.

“Of this renewable percentage, 21% comes from sugarcane products and other sources linked to agroenergy”, he highlighted. According to Alonso, the same occurs in the national electricity matrix, for which the renewability percentage is close to 80%, with 8% also coming from biomass from sugar cane and other sources. “Agriculture will play a fundamental role in the expansion of the Brazilian energy sector, since sugar cane, soybeans, corn and agricultural residues are the main raw materials for the production of bioenergy and biofuel”, he stated.

For Alonso, agriculture also plays a fundamental role in the new bioeconomy and energy transition agenda. “Brazil demonstrates to the world that it is possible to produce and use bioenergy and biofuels on a large scale, with sustainability. The country made a choice for sustainability, for biofuels, for agroenergy, which was demonstrated in the various programs and public policies that have been implemented over the years, such as Proálcool, PNPB, RenovaBio and more recently Methane Zero”, he recalled.

Concluding the opening speech on the panel, Alonso stated that ethanol, biodiesel, bioelectricity and biogas are a reality in our country today, and in the future other advanced biofuels will be a reality, such as 2nd generation ethanol, aviation fuels (SAFs), marine biofuels, green diesel, biomethane and also green hydrogen, among others. 

“It is possible to reconcile food and energy production with sustainability. What we need is to replace the discussion of the ‘or’ with the proposition of the ‘and’, that is, if we produce food and energy and bioproducts,” he said. For Alonso, technology will be a key factor in continuing to explore the multifunctionality of Brazilian agriculture. As an example, he once again cited sugar cane, an example of conversion from an agricultural model to a biorefinery model, where the integrated production of food, sugar, energy, first and second generation ethanol, biogas, biomethane is carried out. , bioelectricity, bioproducts, chemical components and more recently billions of carbon credits. 

“We are part of the future of a decarbonized agricultural sector”, says executive from the biogas sector

Raízen's Head of Sustainable Development, Bruno Maier, started the debate by stating that the Brazilian sugar-energy sector has changed and that today sugarcane plants are called “bioenergy parks”. According to him, in addition to the production of ethanol and sugar, electrical energy is produced from bagasse; from vinasse, biogas and biomethane; and 2nd generation cellulosic ethanol also from bagasse, which meant a 50% increase in ethanol production without increasing the planted area.

“Today, what we call bioenergy parks are complete ecosystems of decarbonization solutions, where 19% of Brazilian energy is produced in just 1% of the national territory,” stated Maier. According to the Raízen executive, the sugar-energy sector is at the forefront of energy generation and will remain so for many years.

For the Director of Geoenergética, Alessandro Gardemann, the challenge of biogas for Brazilian agriculture has no references outside Brazil, and the scale of biogas in Brazil also has no ready solution outside the country. “Brazil today, with wasted waste, can produce more than 100 million m³ of biogas per day, equivalent to 70% of national diesel, 40% of electricity and five times the consumption of LPG”, stated Gardemann. Of this potential, he stated that more than 90% is concentrated in agriculture. 

“In our view, if natural gas is the fuel for the transition, biomethane is the destination, as it is a zero-carbon fuel and does not compete with the production of food and feed, having all the environmental attributes and also being a global energy commodity , which is in short supply due to energy problems occurring in Europe”, said the director.

Gardemann recalled that if with just 1% of land planted with sugar cane it is possible to produce around 20% of Brazilian energy, there is immense potential in the approximately 200 million hectares of degraded pastures available for expansion, and this could generate more income per hectare, more jobs and more food. “This whole issue of the circular economy concerns gaining agricultural productivity, reducing the use of fossil fertilizers, reducing diesel consumption, improving the carbon footprint, all with cost reduction”, he summarized. 

“We are part of the future of a decarbonized, sustainable agricultural sector, with a better carbon footprint, but also lower cost, more competitive, generating more food and also part of an industry with a zero-carbon national future”, he concluded. 

“New solutions must come from a holistic and circular economy perspective”, says executive from the sugar-energy sector 

Regarding the future of biofuels, Raízen executive, Bruno Maier, stated that the company is approached by the main executives in the aviation and maritime transport sectors to try to bring decarbonization solutions. “If we imagine that within the production process I can take biogas from vinasse, and that I produced biomethane, and I can bring it back into the production process to decarbonize my own agricultural fleet, I have a circular economy here where today I already use 99% of the waste”, he stated. “New solutions must come with a holistic and circular economy approach precisely to serve sectors that have difficulty reducing emissions”, he concluded.

Regarding the role of agriculture in decarbonizing the sugar-energy sector, Maier stated that the company has focused on increasing productivity, on greater energy production capacity per hectare, in order to achieve a greater energy output in the same planted area, in addition to looking at other industries with large waste generation capacity. 

“We have an absolutely ecumenical view in relation to future biomass and waste generation from other industries. Who knows, perhaps our biogas plants will be close to other industries that have immense waste generation capacity, with the opportunity to receive this waste,” he said. 

For Alessandro Gardemann, from Geoenergética, the vision of a circular economy, given that the entire regulatory environment is already ready, is a business opportunity, to reduce costs and generate income. “We have to focus on Brazil’s great difference, which is knowing how to produce on a large scale and efficiently. Only Brazil has the tropical agricultural technology, territorial extension and capacity for expansion in a world with an energy deficit, needing reliable, long-term, energy integration partners, with a competitive carbon footprint,” he stated. Gardemann also highlighted that Brazil has renewable methane sources and efficient CO2 sources ready to be used to generate more complex molecules. 

Regarding CO2 mitigation and generation of carbon credits, the Raízen executive stated that the company carries out a life cycle analysis of its renewable products every year, in order to know the carbon footprint of each of these products, and that Ethanol is today an absolutely traceable fuel, unrelated to deforestation and the food vs. fuel discussion and with an absolutely smaller carbon footprint.

Alessandro Gardemann concluded the discussions by emphasizing the importance of maintaining programs such as RenovaBio, in which Embrapa played an essential role in the construction, this being an essential future vision for the future of Brazilian industry and decarbonization. 

“Much of the interest in biogas came from the recognition of the carbon footprint of biomethane within RenovaBio and only by putting all fuels on the same scale can this happen. A large part of the billions that are being invested in biogas come from State public policy, Government policy, which applies correct science and empowers the top to make decisions”, he concluded.