Posted on September, 14 2006

Brazil’s power sector could avoid up to US 15 billion in energy investments and create 8 million new jobs, while stabilising its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that contribute to global warming to 2004 levels by 2020, according to a report released by WWF-Brazil.

The report, called ‘Sustainable Electricity Agenda 2020’, identifies feasible ways to substantially reduce the need to build new large-scale power infrastructure by dramatically cutting energy waste, promoting technological innovation and increasing the share of renewable energy up to 80 per cent of the total power supply. “Today, Brazil is a reference for international negotiations regarding renewable energy and climate change, and we have to guarantee that this role continues to be performed by the country in the future”, said Denise Hamú, CEO of WWF-Brazil. “If the decisions taken regarding the electricity sector are misplaced, Brazil will find itself opposed to international climate change action and Kyoto Protocol.” “This study tables a constructive proposal to eradicate the phantasm of the blackout and minimize the socio-environmental conflicts in the evolution of the Brazilian electricity matrix in a cheap and intelligent way”, added Leonardo Lacerda, Conservation Director for WWF-Brazil.

According to the environmental group, with aggressive policies for reducing power waste both at the production and consumption level and stimulating investment in new renewable energy, such as biomass, wind, small hydropower and solar thermal power, Brazil could cut by 38% the projected power demand growth by 2020. This will result in savings of USD 15 billion for consumers by the year 2020, the equivalent of two and a half times the 2006 budget of Lula’s Programme against Hunger (Programma Fome Zero), or the combined GDP of Bolivia and Paraguay for 2005. “For the Brazilian people, cutting energy waste is more cost-effective than constructing new hydropower or coal fired thermoelectric plants. Brazil has made a great effort towards energy conservation during the 2001 power rationing, but has already forgotten the good lessons learned”, reminded Gilberto Januzzi, the author's report author from the University of Campinas (State of São Paulo).

By implementing this blueprint for a climate-safe power sector, Brazil could stabilize its climate altering emissions at a level close to that of 2004. Between 2004-2020, the country could achieved cumulated CO2 emissions savings of 413 million tonnes. This is higher that the CO2 emission avoided by Pro-Alcohol Programme over the last 25 years. “In the international carbon market, the sales of these 413 million tonnes of carbon dioxide could generate an revenue of US$2 billion”, said Giulio Volpi, Co-ordinator of the WWF Climate Change Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean. “This is the kind of proposal that Brazil should consider persue to both ripe the benefits of the international carbon market and reaffirm its leadership role in the global fight to climate change” concluded Volpi.

To realize this potential, WWF Brazil calls on the government to adopt a clean energy plan to mainstream energy efficiency and new renewable energy sources in the power planning process. Priority actions include the approval of a energy efficiency plan with timebound quantifiable targets, the launch of the second phase of the National Renewable Electricity Programme (Proinfa II) and of the National Solar Thermal Programme.