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After almost twelve years of inactivity, Mercosur and the European Union (UE) finally exchanged trade offers yesterday. We congratulate the negotiating teams from both parts of the Atlantic for this great achievement, but we would like to express our profound disappointment with the exclusion of sugar and ethanol from the EU offer.

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is an intergovernmental organisation that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future, and serves as the principal platform for international co-operation, a centre of excellence, and a repository of policy, technology, resource and financial knowledge on renewable energy.

EU Member States have agreed on a new policy framework for climate and energy, including EU‑wide targets for the period between 2020 and 2030. The targets include reducing the Union’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 40 % relative to emissions in 2005 and ensuring that at least 27 % of the EU’s energy comes from renewable sources.

To enhance America’s energy security and improve the environment, Congress created a program requiring increasing volumes of renewable fuel in the U.S. energy supply. The law – known as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) – calls for Americans to use more renewable fuel each year, incrementally growing the requirement to 36 billion gallons by 2022.

In its Energy Union Framework Strategy, the Commission announced a new renewable energy package for the period after 2020, [1] to include a new renewable energy directive (REDII) for the period 2020-2030 and an updated EU bioenergy sustainability policy.

The common objective to fight climate change brought together 196 nations to the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) in early December 2015. In an exceptional exercise of international concerted action, leaders from all parts of the globe agreed to join efforts to fight climate change.

The sugarcane industry in Brazil provides clean and renewable solutions to our most pressing challenges, including climate change mitigation and diversification of energy sources.

This report was written by Kris Terauds, an economist with UNCTAD's Special Unit on Commodities. It was prepared under the general direction and supervision of Yanchun Zhang, Chief of the Commodities Policy Implementation and Outreach Section, Special Unit on Commodities. Samuel Gayi, Head of the Special Unit on Commodities, provided a detailed review of the report.

Amid the 5th consecutive year of a global surplus and challenging world market conditions at below the cost of production in their member countries, The Global Sugar Alliance members from the major sugar exporting nations met together in Sao Paulo, Brazil earlier yesterday (23 September) to tackle this and a multitude of issues impacting on the global sugar industry currently.

The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (“UNICA”) appreciates the opportunity to provide these comments on the proposed rule, entitled the "Renewable Fuel Standard Program: Standards for 2017 and Biomass-Based Diesel Volume for 2018; Proposed Rule," 81 Fed. Reg. 34,788, published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) on May 31, 2016 ("Proposed Rule").

The development of modern high efficiency bioenergy technologies has the potential to improve energy security and access while reducing environmental impacts and stimulating low-carbon development. While modern bioenergy production is increasing in the world, it still makes a small contribution to our energy matrix.

Use Bioethanol it has one of the highest greenhouse gas savings. UNICA wants to ensure that the future of biofuels in Europe doesn’t just rely on biodiesel, but also leaves room for bioethanol.

Tank to wheels (TTW) emissions from road transport represent around 19% of total EU emissions in 2010 and is the fastest growing source of EU emissions according to the new carbon inventory report by the EEA (EEA, 2014).

The European Council has recently given a mandate to the European Commission to address EU transport emissions, notably through new instruments and measures for “renewable energy sources in transport”. This represents an improvement compared to the Commission’s original Communication which did not mention transport.

Biofuels represent a major option to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector. When assessing the benefits of biofuels, they are compared to the fossil fuels they replace. In the framework of the European Renewable Energy Directive and the Fuel Quality Directive, this is done by comparing the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of biofuels to a 'fossil comparator'.

The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (“UNICA”) appreciates the opportunity to provide comments on the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Low Carbon Fuel Standard’s (LCFS) fuel availability assessment, which was presented at a workshop on September 25, 2014.

The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (“UNICA”) appreciates the opportunity to provide comments on the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Low Carbon Fuel Standard’s (LCFS) update on indirect land use change (ILUC) analysis.

The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) appreciates the opportunity to provide comments on the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) update on CA-GREET model used for the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) program and the carbon intensity (CI) of the different fuels that are part of the program.

As the leading international supplier of ethanol to the United States, we are writing to express our concern that widespread introduction of E15 is being impeded by Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) inconsistent application of the Reid vapor pressure (RVP) volatility waiver to ethanol-blended gasoline.

The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (“UNICA”) appreciates the opportunity to provide comments on the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Low Carbon Fuel Standard’s (LCFS) revised indirect land use change (iLUC) values, which were first presented at a workshop on March 11, 2014.