Brazil's Green Miracle
9-minutes, 2007
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We report from Sao Paulo - the centre of Brazil's ethanol industry. Sao Paulo - the world's third largest city and one of the most congested. But no longer the most polluted - a sweet revolution at the petrol pumps has left Paulistas breathing easier and labelled Brazil the green Saudi Arabia. Brazilians are the world's most environmentally friendly drivers -over 80% of them now buy flex cars - designed to run on ethanol, petrol or natural gas. It's the perfect place for President Bush to improve his fledgling green credentials - and to counter growing anti-American hostility in the region. Energy is the new bargaining chip - with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez using his oil resources to influence neighbours and Bush banking on ethanol to win them round. He went to Sao Paulo to sign an initiative encouraging Latin American and Caribbean countries to grow crops of cane. And to use Brazilian technology to make their own ethanol. On the face of it, it's a win win agreement for the US - an eco-friendly gesture that will increase the ethanol market and reduce dependency on petrol, taking the heat out of soaring oil prices. Ethanol expert Dr Edgar Beauclair is not surprised the world is turning to Brazil to learn about biofuel. Filling up with ethanol is cleaner and it's cheaper - half the price of a tank full of petrol. No surprise that President Bush is jumping on this biofuel bandwagon. But many believe what works in the Southern Hemisphere won't work in the North. From 2003 to today we grow from zero to 98% of production in GM in Brazil on flex cars. On the production line Astras, Vectras and Corsas - all very popular in Sao Paulo, but the Corsa 1.8's not exactly a best seller in apple pie America. President Bush has tasked the American people to cut petrol use by a fifth by switching to biofuels - in fact a target that could be met by merely improving the engine efficiency of your average family saloon by just two miles per gallon -but that would mean swapping their SUV's for a much smaller runabout. As President Lula showed Mr Bush around his sugar cane industry he pushed him to lower the high tariffs on Brazilian ethanol exports -it's not something the American President can easily do without a backlash at home. Brazil is teaching countries around the world how to turn this into fuel. Australia, Japan and now Thailand have already started to run cars on ethanol made from sugar cane. But one group of farmers are working very hard to stop Brazilian ethanol being exported to the US. Corn farmers in the Midwest are at the cutting edge of America's ethanol industry -but it's the poor relation to the Brazilian product -while sugar rich cane ethanol contains eight times the energy used to produce it -starchy corn ethanol packs a far weaker punch - some scientists warning it in fact uses more energy to make than it delivers. But in the end the Americans will not achieve the targets that they've imposed without help from other suppliers not only Brazil, but other countries that are able. US corn farmers don't accept that -inspite of heavy subsidies -they're vehemently opposed to President Bush agreeing to help Latin American ethanol production with US taxpayers dollars - but others are much more concerned that corn is going being used for fuel and not food. Environmentalists warn that small farms that still burn cane stubble are generating Co2 -and that increased demand could cause more deforestation - but the Brazilian government stands by the ecological improvement brought about by its biofuel. The black smog over Sao Paulo is slowly reducing -their ethanol industry is bolstering the economy and Brazilian consciences are clearer -biofuels are clearly working in Brazil -for the rest of the polluting planet the search for an end to fossil fuels continues.