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opinionAlso in this section:
Bernal, Martín's "Fifth Bench" throne room Syracuse, High profile political murders in Guatemala Jackson, Mitt Romney leads GOP candidate fundraising Sirias, A painful plunge back into English
Biofuels politics.... Brazil’s giant step toward becoming a big player by Thomaz Alvares de Azevedo e Almeida --- Council on Hemispheric Affairs
Editor's note: This column is redacted from its March 30 original, which can be found on the Council on Hemispheric Affairs website. To get matters straight about ethanol, it is necessary to address the big picture. First, burning ethanol releases less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than burning fossil fuels, whether the base is sugar cane, corn or cellulose. Thus, ethanol can be seen as a very effective means for addressing global warming. Second, the increased production of ethanol diversifies fuel portfolios and in this way can be a powerful determinant in lowering fuel prices in the international market. Although both countries have professed great concern about global warming --- an issue that only recently has begun to pull more weight US politics --- both Washington and Brasilia appear to have their eyes primarily focused on the potential ample economic returns of ethanol production, sales and distribution. However, while Washington clearly sees ethanol as an avenue to strengthening its energy security tabulations, Brasilia sees it as a way of consolidating its position as an emerging political power broker. Ethanol could change the world Washington’s game seems to be based on lowering the economic costs of its ethanol production and consumption. Washington also says that after questions relating to the economy of scale are addressed and the land available for production is assessed, it will get down to dealing with the factors involved in bringing such production to Central America and the Caribbean. With both Brazil and this array of small Caribbean Basin Countries with their legacy sugar-cane plantations puts them on the right side on this issue, the United States could begin weighting thoughts of championing a sort of “green OPEC.” That would entail the decrease in oil-dependency in the Western hemisphere and, at the same time, contract the bargaining power of politically fractious OPEC members like Venezuela and Iran. Brasilia’s plan is quite different and may be far more democratic in its inspiration. Brazil is the most advanced country in the world in the production of ethanol, and the current administration seems willing to share its relatively uncomplicated sugar cane ethanol technology with the Caribbean basin nations, as Washington is requesting it to do. But Brasilia is also interested in sharing its technology beyond the hemisphere’s borders, for equally compelling geopolitical reasons. If ethanol had a broader production base, sugar cane --- an agricultural commodity now widely produced by poor countries located in equatorial regions around the globe --- would enjoy an increase in demand in the international market, which could have a transformative impact on the economies of many of these countries. If these poor countries are able to develop their own ethanol production capacity, they can import less oil and the competition between fossil fuels and biofuels will most likely bring their prices down. Thus, with a little imagination, Brasilia’s move to share its ethanol technology globally might be seen as the generative spark behind a massive, if humble, methodology of poverty alleviation. Brasilia is interested in the potential geopolitical gains resulting from such a development, in line with the longstanding desire of Lula to be seen as global leader: the ‘spokesman for the developing world.’ Based on these considerations, we may expect that Lula will try to reinforce his image as world class leader by putting Bush in the corner and pressuring him to demand that the US Congress reduces import tariffs on ethanol. In addition, Lula has always nursed a fixation of wanting to be seen as the protector of the underprivileged. Lula is willing to use Brazil’s sugar cane ethanol capacity as a wedge to influence the US position in the current World Trade Organization discussions on agricultural subsidies (the “Doha Round”). He has been one of the leading voices among a group of developing countries (G-20) whose main objective is precisely the reduction of agricultural subsidies in developed countries.
Also in this section:
Bernal, Martín's "Fifth Bench" throne room Syracuse, High profile political murders in Guatemala Jackson, Mitt Romney leads GOP candidate fundraising Sirias, A painful plunge back into English
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