About the Biofuture Summit II / BBEST2021 Virtual Conference

The 20-country Biofuture Platform multilateral initiative has joined forces with the Brazilian Bioenergy Science and Technology Conference (BBEST) to bring together the world´s very best in policies, innovation, science and market outlook in the bioenergy and bioeconomy sectors. The conference was organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Biofuture Platform chair and host, and the Bioenergy Research Program, (BIOEN) from the State of São Paulo Science Research Foundation (FAPESP), with support from the APEX-Brazil trade promotion agency and the International Energy Agency (IEA), among several other partners.

The opening session, the wrap-up final session, closing ceremony and the four major keynotes have been made publicly available through YouTube and more is expected to be published in the BBEST-Biofuture YouTube Channel soon.

More than 640 attendees and 212 speakers from 40 countries participated in the event. The week’s events included high-level opening and closing ceremonies, a keynotes session on the low carbon bioeconomy’s place in the fight against climate change and energy transition, and several live webinars, pre-recorded roundtables, panels and technical sessions devoted to many aspects of accelerating the sustainable low carbon bioeconomy, for a total of 40 sessions. The topics covered include policies, finance, technology and innovation support, transportation, bioproducts, biorefining, sustainability governance, aviation biofuels, advanced biofuels and cellulosic ethanol, and many others, as well as a virtual visit to the São Martinho Plant and Refinery, originally planned as an in-sight visit. The full event is available on the Whova Platform. Registered delegates can continue to use the app to keep in touch with fellow attendees and watch and interact in the recorded sessions.

The Biofuture Summit II highlighted the transfer of the chairmanship of the Biofuture Platform from Brazil to the United States. Thanking the current leadership of the Biofuture Platform for “launching, leading and conducting” what he qualified as a “key instrument for spearheading multilateral collaboration and policy discussion”, David Turk, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, said of the US priorities for their term as Chair: “As the new Chair of the Biofuture Platform Initiative, the US will focus on continually increasing the number and breadth of country members to make this truly a global coalition, focusing on the key challenge areas of developing sustainable biomass supply chains, exploring and forging consensus on environmental understanding of biomass as a key element of the clean technology revolution, stimulating private sector engagement, and critical policy convergence to enable success.”

The opening ceremony included, among others, interventions from the Brazilian Minister of Mines and Energy, who addressed the positive effects of using biofuels to reduce CO₂ in the atmosphere and local pollution, as well as the need to ensure support for the sector, through consistent public policies, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), who commented on the critical role of bioenergy in creating jobs and the importance of exchanging experience between countries, and the Undersecretary for Economic Affairs of Brazil, who highlighted the progress and achievements of the Biofuture Platform under Brazil’s chairmanship and welcomed the US as the new Biofuture Chair. All recognized the negative effects of COVID-19 in the bioenergy sector in the year 2020. The President of APEX-Brazil highlighted the role of Brazil as a provider of technological solutions in bioenergy and as one of the largest ethanol producers in the world. The Platform’s Policy Blueprint was also unveiled, with the goal to help accelerate the growth of the global bioeconomy. In the Keynotes the IEA Net-Zero by 2050 report was presented highlighting the critical role that sustainable bioenergy will play in the clean energy transition.

The pre-recorded roundtables, panels and technical sessions presented a wide array of scientific and technological advances, highlighting the capability of science in providing the basis for a cleaner and more sustainable future. The BBEST Conference proved once more to be an important showcase of research, latest technological developments and launching of new initiatives fostered by FAPESP BIOEN and its partners across the globe.

Glaucia Mendes Souza, Luiz Augusto Horta Nogueira and Renato Godinho (Conference Co-Chairs)