If you catch a bus in Central Florida, chances are good that it is running on B20. LYNX, the public transportation service for Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties, has been using biodiesel blends since 2010 as part of its sustainability plan.

Blending of fossil diesel with biodiesel is an important climate change mitigation strategy across the world. In 2003 the Planning Commission of India decided to introduce mandatory blending over increasingly larger parts of the country and reach countrywide 30% blending status by the year 2020 and opted for nonedible oilseed species of Jatropha curcus raised over lands unsuited to agriculture as it was considered to be high in oil content, early yielding, nonbrowsable and requiring little irrigation and even less management.

In Brazil, UNICA expects the country to import 1 billion liters of ethanol during 2011 to make up for its production shortfall this year as producers focus more on sugar production rather than ethanol due to exceptionally high global sugar prices.

A Major Development to Be Discussed at This Year's International Biorefining Conference & Trade Show

An evaluation recently completed by UNICA, Brazil’s sugarcane industry association, along with several other Brazilian associations has concluded that the country’s 2011-’12 sugarcane harvest will be smaller than originally predicted and will result in decreased ethanol production.

In Florida, the Digest today releases its annual review of biofuels mandates and targets around the world, looking at the state of biofuels mandates in 52 countries around the world.

Lausanne, 19 July 2011 – Today the European Union recognized the standard and certification system of the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels (RSB) as a way to demonstrate and document compliance with the EU biofuels mandate. Biofuels entering the EU market must demonstrate environmental benefits compared to fossil fuels in order to count toward the mandate established under the Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC).