Formation | 2008 |
---|---|
Type | Multi-stakeholder initiative |
Focus | Sustainable agriculture, Sustainable biofuels, Sugar cane |
Headquarters | London |
Website | bonsucro |
Formerly called | Better Sugar Cane Initiative (BSI) |
Established in 2008, Bonsucro is a global non-profit, multi-stakeholder governance group promoting sustainable sugar cane, [1] [2] including production, processing and trade around the world.
Bonsucro has a strong local presence in the countries that produce, use and consume the most sugarcane and its products. Offices can be found in the United Kingdom (London) and Brazil (Ribeirão Preto), with staff also based in India and Mexico.
Both Bonsucro and the standards set by the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials have been noted as in practise expanding the EU RED guidelines to include other factors, such as land tenure issues as prescribed by national law. [3]
Since 2011, Bonsucro has certified over 800 millions tonnes of sugarcane, and over 55 million tonnes of sugar.
In 2021, the number of certified mills rose to 145. [4] Certified mills were found to have reduced their water use by 53 % after five years of certification. [4] 71 % of certified mills produced enough energy to export to the national grid. [4]
Through ongoing certification, producers demonstrate the ability to reduce their nitrogen fertiliser use per hectare, from an average of 81 kg N/ha at initial certification to an average of 67 kg N/ha after five years. In 2020, certified producers used an average of 3.5kg active ingredient/ha for both pesticides and herbicides - well within the standard threshold of using less than 5 kg active ingredient per hectare.
Through Bonsucro membership and certification, over 32,000 seasonal workers in sugarcane production and processing now have proper contracts and are paid at least the national minimum wage. [4] 182,800 workers are covered by health and safety plans and have access to first aid. [4]
All figures have been taken from Bonsucro's 2021 Outcome Report. [4]
In 2021 Bonsucro announced its new five-year strategic plan. [5] The defining Statement of Purpose is "to collectively accelerate the sustainable production and uses of sugarcane".
Its three Strategic Aims are:
The three strategic aims correspond to the three pillars of sustainable development and define how Bonsucro will contribute to the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Bonsucro works with its member to address critical challenges across the sugarcane sector. Members include farmers, millers, traders, and end users.
There are two types of Bonsucro certification that allow stakeholders to demonstrate their commitment to environmental and social sustainability in sugarcane. Stakeholders are audited by third parties in order to ensure impartiality and fairness.[ citation needed ]
The Production Standard [6] [7] helps farmers and mills to measure key environmental and social impacts. It is designed to help businesses increase efficiency whilst also reducing their waste, energy and water use.
It has five core principles:
The Chain of Custody Standard [8] enables brands to trace sugarcane from the origin to the end product. It provides proof to buyers that they are sourcing and trading responsibly, allowing them to make on-product claims.
The main principles are:
Bonsucro has over 300 members from 55 countries.
EU market access has been labeled as important by Colombian policy-makers, and described as driving the country's national policy aiming for 40% Bonsucro sugarcane. [9] However, this use of certification in the context of biofuels has caused concern regarding the consequences of intensification in Colombia, although as of November 2014 no mills had yet achieved certification in the country. [10] The first Bonsucro certified ethanol fuel, from Brazil, was first imported into Europe through the Port of Rotterdam in 2012. [11] [12]
Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricultural, domestic or industrial biowaste.
Bagasse is the dry pulpy fibrous material that remains after crushing sugarcane or sorghum stalks to extract their juice. It is used as a biofuel for the production of heat, energy, and electricity, and in the manufacture of pulp and building materials. Agave bagasse is similar, but is the material remnants after extracting blue agave sap.
Cellulosic ethanol is ethanol produced from cellulose rather than from the plant's seeds or fruit. It can be produced from grasses, wood, algae, or other plants. It is generally discussed for use as a biofuel. The carbon dioxide that plants absorb as they grow offsets some of the carbon dioxide emitted when ethanol made from them is burned, so cellulosic ethanol fuel has the potential to have a lower carbon footprint than fossil fuels.
Mitr Phol Group is Thailand's and Asia's biggest sugar and bio-energy producer.
A biorefinery is a refinery that converts biomass to energy and other beneficial byproducts. The International Energy Agency Bioenergy Task 42 defined biorefining as "the sustainable processing of biomass into a spectrum of bio-based products and bioenergy ". As refineries, biorefineries can provide multiple chemicals by fractioning an initial raw material (biomass) into multiple intermediates that can be further converted into value-added products. Each refining phase is also referred to as a "cascading phase". The use of biomass as feedstock can provide a benefit by reducing the impacts on the environment, as lower pollutants emissions and reduction in the emissions of hazard products. In addition, biorefineries are intended to achieve the following goals:
Bioenergy is energy made or generated from biomass, which consists of recently living organisms, mainly plants. Types of biomass commonly used for bioenergy include wood, food crops such as corn, energy crops and waste from forests, yards, or farms. The IPCC defines bioenergy as a renewable form of energy. Bioenergy can either mitigate or increase greenhouse gas emissions. There is also agreement that local environmental impacts can be problematic.
Brazil is the world's second largest producer of ethanol fuel. Brazil and the United States have led the industrial production of ethanol fuel for several years, together accounting for 85 percent of the world's production in 2017. Brazil produced 26.72 billion liters, representing 26.1 percent of the world's total ethanol used as fuel in 2017.
The United States produces mainly biodiesel and ethanol fuel, which uses corn as the main feedstock. The US is the world's largest producer of ethanol, having produced nearly 16 billion gallons in 2017 alone. The United States, together with Brazil accounted for 85 percent of all ethanol production, with total world production of 27.05 billion gallons. Biodiesel is commercially available in most oilseed-producing states. As of 2005, it was somewhat more expensive than fossil diesel, though it is still commonly produced in relatively small quantities.
The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) in the United Kingdom is a requirement on transport fuel suppliers to ensure that 5 per cent of all road vehicle fuel is supplied from sustainable renewable sources by 2010. The Government intends to set variable targets for the level of carbon and sustainability performance expected from all transport fuel suppliers claiming certificates for biofuels in the early years of the RTFO.
Biofuel is fuel that is produced from organic matter (biomass), including plant materials and animal waste. It is considered a renewable source of energy that can assist in reducing carbon emissions. The two main types of biofuel currently being produced in Australia are biodiesel and bioethanol, used as replacements for diesel and petrol (gasoline) respectively. As of 2017 Australia is a relatively small producer of biofuels, accounting for 0.2% of world bioethanol production and 0.1% of world biodiesel production.
On April 25, 2006, Executive Order S-06-06, the Bioenergy Action Plan was issued by the then governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, outlining a set of target goals which would establish the increasing use and production of biofuels and biopower for both electricity generation and substitution of natural gas and petroleum within the state of California. The plan asked multiple state agencies to work towards the advancement of biomass programs in California. The order would also help provide statewide environmental protection, mitigation and economic advancement. The plan was passed on July 7, 2006, with progress reports issued in 2007 and 2009.
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, perennial grass that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sucrose, which accumulates in the stalk internodes. Sugarcanes belong to the grass family, Poaceae, an economically important flowering plant family that includes maize, wheat, rice, and sorghum, and many forage crops. It is native to the warm temperate and tropical regions of India, Southeast Asia, and New Guinea. Grown in tropical and subtropical regions, sugarcane is the world's largest crop by production quantity, totaling 1.9 billion tonnes in 2020, with Brazil accounting for 40% of the world total. Sugarcane accounts for 79% of sugar produced globally. About 70% of the sugar produced comes from Saccharum officinarum and its hybrids. All sugarcane species can interbreed, and the major commercial cultivars are complex hybrids.
China has set the goal of attaining one percent of its renewable energy generation through bioenergy in 2020.
Sustainable biofuel is biofuel produced in a sustainable manner. It is not based on petroleum or other fossil fuels. It includes not using plants that are used for food stuff to produce the fuel thus disrupting the world's food supply.
There are various social, economic, environmental and technical issues with biofuel production and use, which have been discussed in the popular media and scientific journals. These include: the effect of moderating oil prices, the "food vs fuel" debate, poverty reduction potential, carbon emissions levels, sustainable biofuel production, deforestation and soil erosion, loss of biodiversity, effect on water resources, the possible modifications necessary to run the engine on biofuel, as well as energy balance and efficiency. The International Resource Panel, which provides independent scientific assessments and expert advice on a variety of resource-related themes, assessed the issues relating to biofuel use in its first report Towards sustainable production and use of resources: Assessing Biofuels. In it, it outlined the wider and interrelated factors that need to be considered when deciding on the relative merits of pursuing one biofuel over another. It concluded that not all biofuels perform equally in terms of their effect on climate, energy security and ecosystems, and suggested that environmental and social effects need to be assessed throughout the entire life-cycle.
The use of biofuels varies by region. The world leaders in biofuel development and use are Brazil, United States, France, Sweden and Germany.
A low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) is an emissions trading rule designed to reduce the average carbon intensity of transportation fuels in a given jurisdiction, as compared to conventional petroleum fuels, such as gasoline and diesel. The most common methods for reducing transportation carbon emissions are supplying electricity to electric vehicles, supplying hydrogen fuel to fuel cell vehicles and blending biofuels, such as ethanol, biodiesel, renewable diesel, and renewable natural gas into fossil fuels. The main purpose of a low-carbon fuel standard is to decrease carbon dioxide emissions associated with vehicles powered by various types of internal combustion engines while also considering the entire life cycle, in order to reduce the carbon footprint of transportation.
The indirect land use change impacts of biofuels, also known as ILUC or iLUC, relates to the unintended consequence of releasing more carbon emissions due to land-use changes around the world induced by the expansion of croplands for ethanol or biodiesel production in response to the increased global demand for biofuels.
Raízen is the third largest Brazilian energy company by revenue and the fifth largest in Brazil. The company is a joint-venture formed in 2010 from the merger of the assets of sugar, fuel and ethanol derived from sugar from Cosan and Royal Dutch Shell in Brazil. The company has a market value of approximately US$20 Billion and a revenue of about US$28 billion.
The world's top ethanol fuel producers in 2011 were the United States with 13.9 billion U.S. liquid gallons (bg) and Brazil with 5.6 bg, accounting together for 87.1% of world production of 22.36 billion US gallons. Strong incentives, coupled with other industry development initiatives, are giving rise to fledgling ethanol industries in countries such as Germany, Spain, France, Sweden, India, China, Thailand, Canada, Colombia, Australia, and some Central American countries.
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