The group was created during the Pan-American Liquid Biofuels Summit, organized in San José by the Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura (IICA), which will serve as the coalition's Technical Secretariat.

The 25 organizations that gave rise to the CPBIO, from multiple countries in the Americas, signed a declaration in which they propose the search for a more robust institutional framework and coordination to promote biofuels.

"In today's international scenario, articulating experiences and knowledge is fundamental to achieving sustainable objectives that will have an impact on the environment in the future. For this reason, IICA assumes the Technical Secretariat of the Coalition with great responsibility; its role will be to catalyze the actions of the working group and support the implementation of the proposed roadmap", said Manuel Otero, director general of IICA.

"The Americas is a region where a large amount of bioenergy and biofuels are produced with sustainability. However, these initiatives are not formalized or institutionalized, which prevents information from being disseminated in a fluid and assertive manner. This is a disruptive initiative that will enable the sector to face the challenges of the future to supply the world with low-carbon energy", said Evandro Gussi, president of the Unión de la Industria de la Caña de Azúcar y Bioenergía (UNICA) of Brazil, one of the founding organizations of CPBIO.

Gussi added that IICA's support will be fundamental to the development of the coalition and its work objectives. "The sector is guaranteed that the proposals and agreements defined will have all the experience that IICA has provided to the Americas over several decades". 

Edgar Herrera, executive director of the Liga Agrícola Industrial de la Caña de Azúcar (LAICA), of Costa Rica, another of the founding members, said: "Talking about the benefits of biofuels and renewable energies on the environment is a matter of state and energy security, as is talking about food security. Without a doubt, the missing link was for an institution such as IICA to take the initiative from a continental perspective.

Among its main statements, the CPBIO's declaration of origin states that the climate crisis is becoming increasingly worrisome, but there is still time to avoid major catastrophes, and that biofuels, especially liquid biofuels, are a key factor in the decarbonization of transportation. 

According to the coalition, biofuels improve air quality and the health of the population, and contribute to the development of agriculture and the economy, since their production diversifies the productive supply, adds value, protects soils through crop rotation, creates sustainable jobs and ensures a stable flow of demand over time for farmers.

In addition, the production of biofuels reduces the vulnerability associated with a single energy source.

"Public policies have a fundamental role to play in the development of clean energy in general and biofuels in particular. In this regard, the countries of the Americas are in a privileged position, since they have biomass that can be industrialized in a sustainable manner to produce biofuels, in order to decarbonize the economy and protect the health of people, animals and plants", said IICA's international biofuels specialist, Agustín Torroba.

The hemispheric member organizations of the la Coalición Panamericana de Combustibles Líquidos (CPBIO) are:

Asociación Azucarera de El Salvador  

Asociación de Combustibles Renovables Guatemala (ACR) 

Asociación de la Cadena de la Soja Argentina (ACSOJA) 

Azucareros del istmo Centroamericano (AICA) 

Alcoholes del Uruguay (ALUR) 

Asociación de Productores de Alcohol de Guatemala (APAG) 

Arreglo Productivo Local de Alcohol (APLA), de Brasil 

Asociación de los Productores de Biocombustibles de Brasil (APROBIO) 

Asociación de Azúcares y Alcoholes de Panamá (AZUCALPA) 

Cámara Paraguaya de Biocombustibles y energías renovables (BIOCAP) 

Centro Azucarero Argentino (CAA) 

Centro Azucarero y Alcoholero Paraguayo (CAAP) 

Cámara de Bioetanol de Maíz (BIOMAIZ), de Argentina 

Cámara Argentina de Biocombustibles (CARBIO) 

Cámara de la Industria Aceitera de la República Argentina-Centro de exportadores de Cereales (CIARA-CEC) 

Cámara Nacional de las Industrias Azucarera y Alcoholera, de México 

Comité Nacional de Productores de Azúcar Nicaragua (CNPA) 

Federación Nacional de Biocombustibles de Colombia (FEDECOMBUSTIBLES) 

La Liga Agrícola Industrial de la Caña de Azúcar (LAICA), de Costa Rica 

Asociación Maíz y Sorgo Argentino (MAIZAR) 

Asociación Peruana de Agroindustriales del Azúcar y Derivados (PERUCAÑA) 

Unión de Azucareros Latinoamericanos (UNALA) 

Unión Nacional do Etanol de maíz (UNEM) 

Asociación Brasileña de la Industria de la caña de Azúcar (UNICA) 

Consejo de Granos de Estados Unidos 

Translated by: A.M