Letter written by Ambassador José Mauricio Bustani, published in The Guardian on 23 August 2007.

Given appropriate soil and climate conditions, ethanol is an environmentally sustainable and economically viable energy source that reduces greenhouse-gas emissions. Brazil produces ethanol to power 40% of its passenger vehicles using less than 0.6% of its landmass, and gains in productivity mean this has been accompanied by an increase in food production. No sugar cane is planted in the Amazon rainforest, as neither the soil nor the climate is appropriate. From 1970 to 2005 the use of ethanol in Brazil helped to avoid the emission of 644 million tons of CO2. In the sugar-cane ethanol production chain, the ratio of energy produced to fossil fuels consumed is 8.3 to 1.

Ethanol production employs seven million workers, directly or indirectly, and increases rural income. Industrialised nations should lower their tariffs to help develop an international biofuel market and allow developing countries to enjoy their comparative advantages. It would be a mistake for the EU to follow protectionist instincts rather than profiting from a global biofuels market.