Mainly used as a drop-in fuel in gasoline cars, bioethanol is the leading biofuel consumed worldwide. Its demand steadily grows due to blending policies that seek to reduce petrol fuel consumption and improve energy security. As a consequence, the bioethanol market exceeded 100,000 million liters in 2021.  

 

Almost all the bioethanol production (99,8%) comes from edible feedstocks such as corn and sugarcane. In this context, it is crucial to notice that a rising bioethanol demand means more land for cultivating energetic crops.

 

In a finite world, rising demand for croplands can be fulfilled in only two ways: creating new cropland by land conversion or displacing existing crops by forcing food, feed and materials to be produced on new cropland elsewhere. The consequences of this dynamic, called land-use change, promote deforestation, ecosystem services deterioration and release of greenhouse gasses that were previously stocked in the soil and biomass.