Sustainability-Verified Brazilian Ethanol reaches Swedish pumps in August
Starting this August, Swedish drivers will benefit from an innovative agreement between Sekab, Sweden’s top ethanol importer, and four Brazilian sugarcane ethanol producers: Alcoeste, Cosan, Guarani and NovAmerica. Ethanol shipped through Sekab to Sweden by those four companies is now being verified for sustainability by an independent agency, to ensure that it meets specific environmental and social criteria.According to Sekab vice-president Anders Fredriksson, the agreement will show Swedish consumers that what is being delivered matches precisely what consumers believed they were purchasing when they chose ethanol. “The product meets strict criteria, which answers questions frequently raised about Brazilian ethanol that at times lead to controversy in Europe”, he added. The agreement calls for all plants producing ethanol for export to Sweden to be audited on six specific points: reduction of CO2 emissions, observance of minimum levels of mechanized harvesting, a commitment to conserving forested areas, zero tolerance regarding non-regulated or child labour and observance of minimum wage levels according to existing collective agreements. The document also calls for companies participating in the agreement to be signataries of the Green Protocol, established in 2007 between the sugarcane industry and the state government of São Paulo. The Protocol established 2014 as the final deadline for all cane harvesting to be mechanized, eliminating the need to burn sugarcane leaves to allow for manual cutting.The first shipment of verified ethanol from Brazil was shipped to Sweden in mid-June, and is becoming available in Swedish fueling stations this month.
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