DELHI, INDIA (FOLHAPRESS) Brazil has stepped up its crusade against what it sees as the European Union’s ecological neocolonialism. In the G20 communiqué, the Brazilian government criticized European antideforestation legislation supported by Indonesia, another forestry power, and the environmental requirements that the EU wants to include in its trade agreement with Mercosur.
The document highlights the need to avoid discriminatory environmental policies that violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. The European law, which came into force in June, imposes sanctions on countries that fail to prove to companies that exports of palm oil, soy, coffee, cocoa, meat and others are not linked to deforestation after December 31, 2020.
The issue will also be raised in the bilateral conversation that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will have with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday morning (10). Lula has already publicly criticized this type of demand.
“I presented to President von der Leyen Brazil’s concerns about the additional instrument to the agreement presented by the European Union in March this year, which extends the country’s commitments and imposes sanctions on them for noncompliance. The premise that must exist.” “The strategic importance between partners is mutual trust and not distrust and sanctions,” Lula said in June after a meeting with Ursula Von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.
Last week, Brazil’s ambassadors to the EU and ambassadors from 12 other countries sent a letter to EU officials saying the legislation was discriminatory and not in line with WTO rules.
The letter states that European law does not take into account “local circumstances and capabilities, national legislation and certification mechanisms of developing countries, as well as their efforts to combat deforestation and commitments made in multilateral forums.”
Brazil has recently sided more strongly with the USA than with the EU on environmental issues. In addition to the American and Indian governments, Brasília also mentioned in the G20 text the Global Biofuels Alliance, an initiative of the three countries in which 19 other nations participate. The EU was initially reluctant because, alongside China, it is relying more heavily on electrical energy as the main driver of the energy transition.
The alliance will be launched this Saturday (9) on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Delhi with the participation of President Lula, US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The aim is to boost the production and consumption of ethanol worldwide. A total of 19 countries are taking part in the initiative.
The USA accounts for 55% of world production, followed by Brazil at 27%. India is the fifth largest producer with 3%, behind the EU with 4.8% and China with 3.1%.
The US produces corn ethanol, which is less competitive and efficient than ethanol. But the US corn producers’ lobby is powerful and the government is looking for ways to sell production, especially given tensions in relations with China, which has been one of the main importers of American corn and has significantly reduced its purchases. In addition, electrification is progressing in the USA.
According to Evandro Gussi, president of the Sugarcane and Bioenergy Industry Union (UNICA), the alliance is intended to strengthen the type of cooperation that Brazil already has with India and transfer it to other countries. According to him, Brazil began sharing ethanol technology with the Indians four years ago, which would have accelerated the Indian program.
“With the alliance, this movement (with this initiative and others we are developing) will be accelerated and at the same time can be taken to more countries committed to bioenergy,” says Gussi.
India has an energy matrix heavily dependent on coal, which accounts for around 70% of energy consumption and despite low CO2 emissions per capita, it is the third largest emitter of the pollutant in the world. According to consulting firm Embers, India’s emissions have risen 28.9% over the past seven years and the country is struggling to get more energy from clean sources. At the same time, India has large surpluses of sugar that can be used to produce ethanol