Sergio Abranches

Brazilian state-owned financial institutions will finance research and development of cellulosic ethanol, reports the Brazilian daily newspaper Valor Econômico. More »

Brazil has suddenly realized the attractiveness of its immense wind power potential. Once deemed too expensive and small-scale, unable to meet the country’s power needs, it is now braced to grow sevenfold to 2014. More »

Sergio Abranches

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) its annual survey of the Global 500 largest companies by market capitalization included in the FTSE Global Equity Index Series provides some interesting indications on how the larger public corporations are dealing with climate change. More »

Sérgio Abranches

Large photovoltaic projects will cost half the current price in a couple of years, says a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. As the cost of generating electricity from the sun rivals coal-fueled plants, solar panel installations may grow strongly in the next two years, industry executives and analysts told Bloomberg News. More »

Sergio Abranches

For the third consecutive year Brazilian sugarcane harvests will be affected by adverse climatic factors. The latest estimates from the producers’ association, UNICA, is that it will be 8.4% smaller for the season 2011-2012. Over the last three years demand for sugar has been very strong and prices even higher than ethanol’s. As a result, producers have been calibrating their production mix to yield more sugar than alcohol. More »

Sergio Abranches

Moving from a high-carbon to a low-carbon economy entails replacing the global energy and industrial high-carbon infrastructure over the next decades. UN’s recent Economic and Social Survey 2011 – The Great Green Technological Transformation estimates replacement costs at $15-$20 trillion, or between one quarter and one third of global income. More »