Brazil’s carbon dioxide emissions have been greatly reduced with the initiation of sugarcane plantations. Since 2003, Brazil’s use of sugarcane ethanol has reduced that country’s emissions of carbon dioxide by 122 million tonnes. That is com­parable to planting and maintaining 873 million trees for 20 years. These low — carbon benefits from sugarcane will expand with the development of high-tech products on a commercial scale, such as cellulosic ethanol, bioplastics, and biohydrocarbons.

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Cautionary Notes

• Availability. The technologies are in development and the supply of second- generation biofuels is not yet available on a big commercial scale.

• Financing. Capital is hard to come by in this market.

• Sugar prices. They are very volatile and are heading seriously north. In 1999, sugar was trading at 5.5 cents per pound, in January 2011: 34 cents a pound. April 2012: 24 cents a pound. Due to its function as a feedstock for biokerosene I think sugar can once again double in price.

• Linkage of the sugar price to oil. These days, commodities like palm oil are linked to petroleum. Sugar has resisted the trend — when oil prices crashed 75% in 2008, sugar rose for the year. However, if oil and sugar become linked, it will make it difficult for processors to make money unless the spread is sufficient, retarding the prospect of financing.

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