The Annual General Assembly of the Union of Latin American Sugar Producers (UNALA) consider ethanol an essential fuel for agroindustry development and transportation decarbonization in Latin America.
Panama City, Panama, 9 April 2025 – The Union of Latin American Sugar Producers (UNALA), which has members in fifteen countries of the region, held its Annual General Assembly, in coordination with the Sugar and Alcohol Association of Panama (AZUCALPA). The event brought together sector leaders and experts to analyze the main challenges and opportunities affecting the sugar agroindustry in the current global context.
UNALA is seeking to position itself as a strategic decision-making forum, in efforts to drive the competitiveness and sustainability of the Latin American sugar agroindustry, at a time in which biofuels provide one of the most efficient means of decarbonizing ground transportation and sectors that are difficult to electrify, such as aviation, through the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs).
Agustín Torroba, an international biofuel expert at the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and Executive Secretary of the Pan-American Liquid Biofuels Coalition (CPBIO), delivered a presentation on the growth opportunities of ethanol in Latin America, stressing its key role in the transition towards more sustainable energy sources.
Ethanol is fundamental to the sugar cane sector and agriculture. Currently 30% of sugar cane production is used to produce ethanol, thereby driving rural economies and strengthening the bioeconomy”, said Torroba during the meeting.
UNALA and CPBIO coordinate efforts in Panama to improve regional measurement of the Carbon Footprint.
On the other hand, participants at the UNALA meeting in Panama City agreed on the urgent need to bolster and coordinate efforts with the CPBIO to make headway in implementing regional measurement schemes for Carbon Footprint Lifecycle Assessment.
“We would like to highlight the environmental benefits of biofuels and to facilitate their standardization in global markets, for example, by way of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), as well as others applied in Canada and Europe”, explained Luis Fernando Salazar, Executive Director of UNALA.
More information:
Institutional Communication Division.
comunicacion.institucional@iica.int
