"An update to the RFS, which took effect in July 2010, stipulates that a proportion of the mandate must be met by fuels with lower greenhouse gas emissions than corn ethanol, which is home-grown and plentiful.
This policy change created an incentive for U.S. companies to import sugarcane ethanol from Brazil, a major producer, as it produces fewer emissions.
At the same time, more corn ethanol made in the United States is now being exported to Brazil, as U.S. demand has dropped.
As a result, since the start of 2011, the United States and Brazil have shipped over 1 billion gallons of ethanol back and forth – more than 500 million gallons each way.
The emissions generated by the shipping have worsened the carbon footprint of both fuels."
....“Swapping of ethanol with Brazil results in twice as many transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions, undermining the objective of the policy,” said Geoff Cooper, vice-president of research and analysis at the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), a Washington, D.C.-based industry organisation.
Cooper said the trade amounts to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, over and above the saving that comes from using sugarcane ethanol instead of fossil fuels, because of the way the ethanol is shunted between the two countries.
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