Socio-environmental and land-use impacts of double-cropped maize ethanol in Brazil

Marcelo M. R. Moreira (), Joaquim E. A. Seabra, Lee R. Lynd, Sofia M. Arantes, Marcelo P. Cunha and Joaquim Guilhoto
Additional contact information
Marcelo M. R. Moreira: Agroicone
Joaquim E. A. Seabra: University of Campinas
Lee R. Lynd: Dartmouth College
Sofia M. Arantes: University of Campinas
Marcelo P. Cunha: University of Campinas

Nature Sustainability, 2020, vol. 3, issue 3, 209-216

Abstract: Abstract Agricultural intensification, and particularly double cropping, has been suggested as a practical strategy to reconcile biofuel feedstock production with other land-use priorities. Here we assess ethanol production under conditions representative of current practice in the west central region of Brazil: maize grown as a second crop with soybean on land that formerly grew a single soybean crop, and energy processed from a combined heat and power plant using plantation-grown eucalyptus chips. For maize ethanol thus produced we find large reductions in greenhouse gas emissions compared to gasoline, and considerable economic and employment benefits at both local and national levels. We also calculate reduced land-use emissions with maize ethanol production compared to the situation without it. Our study thus documents an example of how the complex linkages of bioenergy to food production and security, environment and economic development can be—and indeed appear to be—managed for positive outcomes using current technology.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0456-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natsus:v:3:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1038_s41893-019-0456-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/natsustain/

DOI: 10.1038/s41893-019-0456-2

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Sustainability is currently edited by Monica Contestabile

More articles in Nature Sustainability from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().