The United Nations Environmental Programme’s Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles (PCFV) and the FIA Foundation held a one-day environmental workshop in São Paulo on 15 March 2006. The workshop, which was hosted by the Automobile Association of Brazil (AAB) focused on the role of the Latin American automobile clubs in promoting cleaner fuels and vehicles in their region. The Latin American region is facing increasing vehicle emissions as a result of expanding vehicle ownership, growing urbanization, congested traffic and a vehicle park that is composed of a large number of older in-use vehicles.
Ms Elisa Dumitrescu, Associate Programme Officer from the Urban Environment Unit of UNEP, introduced the achievements of the UNEP Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles which has worked since 2002 to phase out leaded fuel in those countries that still use it, and has increasingly turned its attention to promoting lower sulphur content in fuel.
Keynote speakers included Mr Ivan Fonseca e Silva, President of the AAB and former President of Ford Brazil and Dr Ozires Silva, an aeronautical engineer who gained national recognition as former President of Brazil’s largest oil company Petrobas, former Minister of State for Infrastructure and President of the Varig Airlines. Other speakers from Brazil included Mr Rogelio Golfarb, President of the Brazilian National Association of Automobile Manufacturers (Anfavea) and Mr Frederico Kremer of Petróleo Brasileiro.
A key topic of discussion was the use of alcohol fuel in Brazil, Latin America’s largest vehicle producer. Alcohol fuel, which was introduced by the government in the 1970s in the face of an oil crisis, became very popular on the Brazilian automobile market in the 1980s. Alcohol-powered cars represented more than 90 per cent of car manufacturing within a few years until alcohol shortages and falling oil prices made the sales of alcohol-powered cars plummet by the end of the decade. The recent introduction of flexi(ble) fuel vehicles, vehicles that run on just gasoline, 100% alcohol or a mix of the two has led to a revival in this renewable energy technology. Reducing gasoline consumption and increasing alcohol use lead to lower carbon dioxide emissions, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. The alcohol that is produced from sugar cane has also generated employment especially in the rural areas.
Rita Cuypers of the FIA Foundation presented the role that automobile clubs can play in the development and promotion of cleaner fuels and vehicles. As independent and trusted consumer organizations the clubs can provide technical advice to their members and the motoring public at large about the transition from leaded to unleaded fuel and the implications of moving to lower sulphur fuel. They should also play an advocacy role in promoting the benefits of cleaner fuels and technologies to the public and government. There are also potential commercial opportunities for clubs in promoting better inspection and maintenance of vehicles to ensure that cars on the road are polluting as little as possible. Motoring organisations too have a responsibility to ensure that car use is as clean and sustainable as possible for future generations.