UNICA highlights importance of ethanol to check air pollution

The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) on Thursday announced the launch of #BringBackMyBlueSky campaign to highlight the benefits of ethanol in India.

The campaign was unveiled at the Auto Expo 2020 in Greater Noida. As part of this launch, an engaging display screen has been setup that will allow visitors to click themselves with popular sites in India, customised with clear blue sky. The display will be available for visitors at the Expo from February 7 to 12.

The objective of the campaign is to sensitise people about the toxic air quality in India's urban centres and how ethanol can be a sustainable solution to this problem.

The #BringBackMyBlueSky campaign was first introduced by UNICA at the 25th Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP 25) in Madrid in December 2019.

Commenting on the launch of the campaign, Eduardo Leao de Sousa, Executive Director of UNICA said "Brazil was dealing with similar problems of air quality that Indian cities are facing today. However, with the robust ethanol policy, Brazil today has drastically cut down the CO2 emissions and created a healthier environment. Government of India too has taken considerable steps in this direction."

India and Brazil recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote the use of biofuels and assist India in boosting its ethanol program. The move is expected to bring significant environmental and economic benefits to the country.

In addition to the reduction of sugar sector subsidies and oil imports, boosting ethanol blends in petrol will also facilitate emission reduction, helping counter air pollution problems in large cities.

At present India mandates 5 per cent ethanol doping with petrol. But Brazil has been using much higher level of ethanol-petrol blend for use as fuel by vehicles.