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Energy Efficiency Loan to Brazil’s Largest Flat Steelmaker / Empréstimo para financiar eficiência energética em siderúrgica brasileira
Monday, November 10th, 2008By my count, this is the second loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to Usiminas to improve energy efficiency in their steelmaking, cut carbon emissions and calculate their carbon footprint. The loan from last May covered its Ouro Branco mill, this one its new Santana do Paraiso mill, both in Minas Gerais state.
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Brazilian States Publicize Consumer Complaints
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008In September the 21 Brazilian state consumer agencies (known in Brazil as “Procons”) belonging to the National System of Consumer Defense Information (Sistema Nacional de Informações de Defesa do Consumidor - SINDEC) opened (mostly on the internet) their registries of consumer complaints, including their rankings of which firms were the subject of the greatest number [...]
Minas & São Paulo Adopt a Green Purchasing Program
Sunday, September 28th, 2008Two of Brazil’s biggest markets — the states of Minas Gerais (MG) and São Paulo (SP) — each created in August a state program for sustainable public purchasing and contracting that, if done properly, can have a major impact on Brazilian markets — even more so if other states and the federal government follow their [...]
Minas Gets Tough on Environmental Enforcement
Thursday, August 28th, 2008Last year I blogged about how the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais was giving its environment inspectors the digital tools they need to make their jobs easier.
Since then I have kept one eye on Minas and the inspectors of its State Environment System (Sisema), not only because of the changes in enforcement that they are [...]
Update: Among the World’s Top PET Recyclers
Wednesday, August 27th, 2008Who was #2 in PET recycling in 2006 (the last year for which there are comparable figures among nations)?
Did you answer Brazil?
In 2006 Brazil recycled 180 kilotons (Kt), representing about 51.3% of the PET sold in the country during that year. This means that Brazil recycles at double the rate that the US does, and [...]
Biodegradable Containers Made from Sugarcane Waste
Monday, August 4th, 2008Synopsis in English: Three biotech enterprises and a university from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais (MG) have developed a biodegradable material made from sugarcane waste (bagasse) which they believe will be shortly be available for the manufacture of packaging and containers. The three firms (Viveiro Flora Brasil, Lótus Soluções Ambientais, Floema Nutrição Vegetal) [...]
Amapá Adopts a Recycling Policy
Friday, August 1st, 2008In early July Governor Waldez Góes signed a law creating a State Materials Recycling Policy. The new Law is based on similar measures adopted by several other Brazilian states, including Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Rondônia. It seeks to promote and provide incentives to the commercialization and industrial utilization [...]
Largest Biofuel Loan Yet by a Multilateral Bank
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008Temas Note: This announcement is interesting to me for at least four reasons. First, as the title says, this is the largest biofuel loan package yet made by a multilateral development bank (MDB). [I doubt that record will stand, and probably will not even stand for very long.]
Second, it underscores IDB’s commitment [...]
São Paulo’s New Bioenergy Research Program
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008Synopsis in English: The state Research Foundation of São Paulo (Fapesp) has just launched a special program Research on Bioenergy (Bioen) that aims at marshalling the state’s considerable public and private R&D resources to adavance and apply all knowledge linked to ethanol production. São Paulo leads Brazil in ethanol production, and Brazil rivals the [...]
Using Steel Waste as Fertilizer?
Monday, June 9th, 2008Synopsis in English: The Environmental Policy Council (Copam) of the state with the bulk of Brazil’s iron and steel manufacturing capacity, Minas Gerais, recently ruled [via what they call a binding "Normative Deliberation" (Deliberação Normativa- DN)] that certain iron and steel making wastes can be utilized as fertilizer in eucalyptus plantations in that state. [...]
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