Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Biodiesel Sustainability Is in Doubt

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 5 2009 (IPS) - Animal fat is the second leading raw material used in making biodiesel in Brazil, representing 14.62 percent of the total in July, following soybean oil (78.7 percent). Both come from big cattle and monoculture operations, contravening the official biodiesel program, which aims to foment family farming.

At least five biodiesel factories obtain beef fat from sources involved deforestation and labor infractions, including slave labor, according to the recently completed study by Repórter Brasil, a non-governmental organization known for denouncing modern-day slavery.

Thais Brianezi, of the biofuel monitoring center of Repórter Brasil, told Tierramérica that this calls into question the discourse of the sustainability of biodiesel as a means to fight climate change, given that cattle ranching is the activity most responsible for Amazon deforestation.