Brazil's importance in the "biofuels, energy supply security and climate change debate makes it a privileged partner of the EU in energy related matters," Piebalgs said in a statement following his meeting with the country's energy minister Edison Lobão.
The EU and Brazil will hold technical meetings at ministerial level in the coming weeks to discuss regulatory issues and joint efforts for second generation biofuels research, part of preparations for a 22 December EU-Brazil summit in Rio de Janeiro, the European Commission said.
Brussels has been keen to ensure good ties with the world's most important producer of agro or biofuels (notably ethanol) following the bloc's controversial commitment to mandate a 10% share of such fuels in its transport sector by 2020. The 10% target, announced by EU heads of state and government in March 2007, was high on the agenda of the first EU-Brazil summit, held in Lisbon in July 2007 (EurActiv 05/07/08).
Brazil has the greatest potential worldwide for affordable biofuels, experts say. The country's traditional sugar cane cultures provide biomass for the production of ethanol, and soy beans are used to make fuel oils. Environmentalists are concerned, however, that increasing cultivation drives up food prices while leading to the further destruction of large swaths of rainforests as developing states look to capitalise on a lucrative EU market.
The Parliament, which is currently in talks with the Council to finalise a new EU law on renewable energies that includes the 10% biofuels target, is pushing for strict sustainability criteria to ensure that those plant-based fuels which enter the EU market are produced according to environmentally sound methods. The precise criteria are due to be finalised in the coming weeks.
But many developing nations say the EU does not have the authority to dictate how and where one of their key export crops is produced, and that the sustainability criteria essentially translate into trade barriers. Brazil, along with seven other biofuel-producing states - Argentina, Colombia, Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Indonesia and Malaysia - warned the EU on 6 November that it could file a complaint with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) if the EU were to push ahead with overly stringent criteria, Reuters reported.
Brazil and other biofuels producers have also been hit hard by the global financial crisis. Multi-million dollar plans to develop sugar cane plantations for ethanol production are being scrapped as financing flows dry up, while projections for fuel demand in rich countries are being scaled back considerably due to recession, according to press reports.
