Green Fuels reaffirms its commitment to Brazil’s pioneering aviation biofuels platform

On World Environment Day June 5, Green Fuels reaffirmed its support to the city of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil, and its commitment to sustainable development. The city’s 2030 Agenda supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Race to Zero. Through this public announcement, which included Margarida Salomão, Mayor of Juiz de Fora; Lucas Brown, British consul in Belo Horizonte; and Pedro Scorza, senior consultant for alternative fuels and sustainability at GOL Linhas Aéreas SA and aviation renewables director at Ubrabio (the Brazilian Biodiesel and Biokerosene Union); Green Fuels confirmed its commitment in line with the U.K. government’s “Great for Partnership” initiative in the state and country.

Among the ongoing projects underpinning the city’s 2030 Agenda is the Plataforma de Bioquerosene e Renováveis da Zona da Mata (Zona da Mata Biokerosene and Renewables Platform). As a key part of this platform, Green Fuels is the biofuels refining technology provider and anchor partner for the recently established CIEP TEC Norte research center of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora. This ground-breaking public-private partnership (PPP) brings together the city and surrounding municipalities in the Zona da Mata region, as well as national and international partners from both the public and private sectors.

The Zona da Mata Platform aims to promote recovery of the Mata Atlântica biome and replenishment of depleted aquifers by reforesting degraded land and pasture. This will stimulate sustainable family farming and local food production while establishing the municipality as a national hub for renewable energy, including biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Use of sustainable feedstock such as used cooking oils from the city and surrounding municipalities, animal fats and macaúba oil—which, when used as the staple agricultural feedstock, provides a sustainable second-tier income for small family farmers—will be a fundamental principle of the project. This is exemplified by Green Fuels’ partners Viveiro Nativo/INOCAS, also signatories to the initiative with an award-winning sustainable business model.

“In the city of Juiz de Fora, this government is prioritizing ecological transition,” said Salomão, marking the occasion. “This connects us with the UN agenda for 2030, according to which we must create the conditions for a more balanced world, with more respect for the environment and our natural resources, the very axis of our government program.”

In his remarks to the audience, Scorza said, “Since the beginning of the platform concept’s development, GOL has followed and participated actively in it, initially as a source of renewable kerosene for our operations, but much greater than that, as a sustainable economy differential for the Zona da Mata region. As a fundamental principle of the company’s decarbonization initiatives, GOL will contribute significantly to carbon fixing through reforestation and continue as an offtaker of the refined sustainable fuel.”

Responding, Manuel Luis Thompson-Flôres, CEO of Green Fuels Ventures América Latina, said, “On this World Environment Day, I wish to congratulate the City of Juiz de Fora on its good governance and sustainability initiatives like the Plataforma de Bioquerosene e Renováveis da Zona da Mata, which serve as a spearhead for the state, country and all Latin America. We at Green Fuels are proud to be associated with GOL Linhas Aéreas’ decarbonization efforts through its carbon sink and offtake commitment to the platform.”

Founded in 2003, Green Fuels has supplied biofuel equipment to customers in more than 80 countries. Identifying aviation and marine as strategic fuel markets of the future, Green Fuels Research was established in 2014 to develop intellectual property in these areas. The group has attracted $16 million in direct and indirect research grant funding to date, with R&D facilities in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, U.K. The company is headquartered in Gloucestershire, with offices in London, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro.