Posted on August 9th, 2011
Boeing (NYSE: BA), Embraer (NYSE: ERJ;BM&FBOVESPA: EMBR3), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) today announced that they will jointly fund a sustainability analysis of producing renewable jet fuel sourced from Brazilian sugarcane. The groundbreaking study will evaluate environmental and market conditions associated with the use of renewable jet fuel produced by Amyris (NASDAQ: AMRS). World Wildlife Fund (WWF) will serve as an independent reviewer and advisor.
“Emerging renewable jet fuel technologies have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly, as sugarcane ethanol in Brazil has already proven,” said Arnaldo Vieira de Carvalho, leader of the IDB Sustainable Aviation Biofuels Initiative. “This study will examine the overall potential for sustainable, large-scale production of alternative jet fuels made from sugarcane.” Last month, the IDB announced a regional cooperation grant to help public and private institutions develop a sustainable biojet fuels industry. The Amyris study is the first to be financed under that grant.
The study will be led by ICONE, a research think-tank in Brazil with extensive experience in agriculture and biofuels analysis, and independently reviewed by WWF. Scheduled for completion in early 2012, the study will include a complete lifecycle analysis of the emissions associated with Amyris’s renewable jet fuel, including indirect land use change and effects. In addition, the study will include benchmarking of cane-derived renewable jet fuel against major sustainability standards, including the Bonsucro, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels and the IDB Biofuel Scorecard.
