One must add that Brazil tried to defend itself from criticism against the impact of ethanol
on food production by arguing that its production is based on sugar cane, which is able to generate
fuel with much higher efficiency at much lower cost than corn ethanol. In the beginning of 2010,
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the United States, assisted by the Institute of
International Trade and Negotiations (ICONE, in Portuguese) unveiled the results of research that
describes ethanol from sugarcane as an “advanced fuel” which reduces carbon dioxide emissions
(CO2) by 61% in comparison with gasoline, thus contributing to the reduction of the emission of
greenhouse gases.