Agrofuels for climate change? Impacts and contradictions of corn ethanol in the Brazilian agrarian space

Abstract

This article analyzes the expansion of the corn ethanol agroindustry in Brazil, highlighting its socio-environmental impacts and contradictions within the context of climate change and energy transition. Based on critical theoretical frameworks and empirical data, the research demonstrates that corn ethanol production has rapidly expanded, driven by public policies, financial incentives, and agribusiness demands. Although promoted as a “sustainable” alternative to fossil fuels, this type of agroenergy reproduces historical patterns of land concentration, intensive monoculture, excessive use of natural resources, and escalating agrarian conflicts. The study shows that the sector’s growth strengthens large agroindustrial corporations, exacerbates ecosystem degradation, stimulates deforestation, and limits agrarian reform and food sovereignty. Therefore, corn ethanol does not represent a fair or truly climate change–mitigating energy transition but rather perpetuates an exclusionary agroindustrial development model that subordinates nature and traditional populations to the logic of capital reproduction and accumulation.