Aprobio criticizes CNPE after mandatory biodiesel blending reduction

The decision of the National Energy Policy Council (CNPE) to maintain the reduction of the blending of biodiesel in fossil diesel by 10% for 2022 once again bothered the biofuels sector, which expected a return to the original level of 13%, not practiced during the year.

According to the Association of Biofuel Producers of Brazil (Aprobio), measures like this are taken because the CNPE is formed by members of many ministries that are unrelated to the reality of the sector and international movements.

President of the association and minister of Agriculture in the first term of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Francisco Turra seeks an audience with President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to discuss the impact of the measure on the sector and the damage it causes to Brazil’s image abroad . Mainly after the commitments made in October, during the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26), in Glasgow, capital of Scotland.

“Ministers Bento Albuquerque (Mines and Energy) and Tereza Cristina (Agriculture) are excellent. But the CNPE is made up of members from 10 ministries. A lot of people make decisions about the same subject without affinity with the themes. I think it’s natural that the Environment is in the middle of the process, for example. But we want this audience with the president to bring the matter directly to him, because there are many agents involved. We want to show the damage caused by the measure, and I’m sure he’ll understand”, says Turra.

The justification for maintaining the mixture level at 10% is the variation in commodity prices on the international market, which affects biodiesel raw materials.

Mainly soy, which accounts for 75% of the vegetables crushed for production. However, a study by Aprobio shows that, from January to October, the variation in the price of biodiesel in the final diesel blend varied only 0.1 percentage point. In the same period, the cost of fossil diesel rose 13.7%.

Turra also remembers the decarbonization commitments assumed by Brazil at COP26. “Our product is an instrument for this to happen and it develops communities where biodiesel plants are installed. The cost of 0.1 percentage point is very small considering the benefits generated, with the generation of jobs, wealth, with an impact on the poultry and swine chains, even affecting the sale of eggs. Besides, the opposite of this means to continue buying fossil diesel from abroad, at prices that continue to grow”, concludes Turra.

The organization also highlights that the sector is able to meet even higher percentages of mixture, such as those practiced in some European countries, in the range of 20%, or in US states, above this level, and even in Malaysia, where the level reaches 30%.

Asked about the criticisms of the composition of the CNPE, the Ministry of Mines and Energy has not taken a position so far. In addition to the aforementioned portfolios, the council, as effective members, includes the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Economy, Infrastructure, Science and Technology, Regional Development and the Institutional Security Office of the Presidency of the Republic, in addition to the president of the Energy Research Company ( EPE).