Located in the heart of the Amazon, it has been billed as Brazil’s first sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) project, but the palm oil producer behind a planned biorefinery in Manaus is now grappling with a financial crisis triggered by concern over possible rights abuses.
Reporting in the region by Brazilian news outlet InfoAmazonia in partnership with Climate Home News, has also found that the company – São Paulo-based Brasil BioFuels (Grupo BBF) – is growing oil palm on three areas subject to sanctions by Brazil’s Ibama environmental agency over illegal deforestation.
The embargoed plots lie in São João da Baliza, a sparsely populated district strung along the highway where former grazing pasture and biodiversity-rich scrubland have steadily been replaced by neat rows of oil palms. Signs hanging on fences say the crop will be used to make SAF.
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While many locals living in the district’s towns welcome the jobs and economic boost provided by BBF’s palm plantations, Indigenous people and environmentalists see them as a threat to nature, traditional ways of life and the rainforest.
“If these areas are completely replaced by crops for biofuel production, we will lose unique species, many of which are still little known to science,” said Lucas Ferrante, a researcher from the zoology postgraduate programme at the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM).
BBF, which announced its plans for the Manaus SAF project back in 2022, makes much of the fact that – in line with Brazil’s strict environmental laws – it only grows oil palm on land that was degraded before 2007, rather than freshly deforested land.
Stressing the company’s green credentials in an interview with Brazilian newspaper Valor Econômico last year, CEO Milton Steagall said the firm – which grows palm on about 75,000 hectares (185,000 acres) in the northern Amazon states of Pará and Roraima – “only cultivates the plant in the areas permitted by law”.
“Our sustainable palm cultivation recovers areas already degraded by deforestation and contributes to keeping the Amazon rainforest standing,” he said.
Illegally cleared land
BBF, which says it is the biggest palm oil producer in Brazil, makes palm-based biodiesel that fuels a network of power stations in the Amazon region, supplying some 140,000 customers.
The plan to produce SAF from the same feedstock would be its first foray into a new market that is set to take off in the coming years, as more countries – including Brazil – require their aviation sectors to start using greener fuel.
But InfoAmazonia’s investigation suggests that sourcing rising amounts of SAF from crops like palm that are grown in tropical forest countries – from Brazil to Malaysia – poses a threat to rainforests that are vital stores of climate-heating carbon.
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InfoAmazonia identified the illegally deforested areas being used by BBF in southern parts of Roraima by analysing data from the Earth Index platform, which draws on artificial intelligence (AI) and satellite images to determine land use.
The data was then cross-referenced with maps of embargoed areas produced by the government’s Ibama agency. In April this year, the InfoAmazonia team visited the sites and confirmed the existence of the palm crops.
Their analysis found that a total area of 164 hectares (405 acres) close to São João da Baliza had been embargoed by Ibama, meaning the land cannot be used for agriculture.
While the area – roughly equivalent to 250 soccer pitches – represents a small fraction of BBF’s total plantations, the findings highlight the deforestation risks of large-scale oil palm cultivation in the Amazon.
None of the plots are officially registered in BBF’s name – something that is relatively common in Brazil’s land registry – but when InfoAmazonia visited them, the company’s logo could be seen displayed clearly on the fences of each.
Pictures taken with a drone of one of the areas show a field that appears to have been recently planted with palms cutting into a forested area that stretches toward the horizon. A few tall trees dot the newly planted area.
Asked about InfoAmazonia’s findings, BBF said it had never been informed about the issuance of environmental penalties on any of its land in Roraima.
“(The company) has (completed) the environmental licensing processes with the State Foundation for the Environment and Water Resources (FEMARH) in all of its areas, which are necessary for the sustainable cultivation of oil palm in the state of Roraima,” a BBF spokesperson told InfoAmazonia.
Pasture and bananas make way for palm
Palm oil production in Roraima as a whole rose nearly 40 times between 2019 and 2023, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Even when palm is planted only on degraded land, the spread of plantations puts “indirect pressure” on forested areas, said Eder Carvalho, chief inspector at Ibama’s Roraima branch.
“Old pasture is replaced by palm, with forested areas in turn being cleared to make way for new pasture and banana cultivation,” he said, explaining a process often referred to in climate and environmental risk assessments as “indirect land use change”, or ILUC.
It is because of the high risk of ILUC linked to palm oil cultivation – and the related carbon dioxide emitted when forests are destroyed – that virgin palm oil is not permitted as a feedstock for SAF in Europe.
Large plantations of a single crop, a practice called monoculture, cause other environmental problems, too, opponents say, taking a heavy toll on biodiversity, depleting water supplies and often involving substantial use of pesticides and other agrochemicals.
In the Amazon, researchers say monoculture also depletes the so-called flying rivers – moist air currents – that carry rain to other parts of Brazil.
“The forest stores a lot of water in the soil, and the trees have deep roots, which lead to evaporation that cools the air, keeping the temperature low,” said climatologist Carlos Nobre, from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), one of the first scientists to study flying rivers.
Green fuel of the future?
Environmental campaigners warn that allowing the use of non-waste vegetable oils like virgin palm oil as a feedstock for SAF would both fuel forest loss and harm the global and local climate in big commodity-producing nations with important rainforest ecosystems such as Brazil, Malaysia and Indonesia.
“We can’t go backwards and return to fuels made from plants, like palm,” said Cian Delaney, a campaign coordinator with the Belgium-based Transport & Environment organisation, adding that no agricultural crop should be used in SAF production.
“This is a fundamental point from an environmental point of view. This cannot open space for the expansion of first-generation crops,” he said.
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Due to such concerns, the EU and Britain require SAF to be made from waste products such as used cooking oil (UCO), as they began this year to mandate SAF blending into jet fuel as a way to reduce air travel’s hefty carbon emissions.
But a months-long investigation by Climate Home and its partner The Straits Times has uncovered an opaque global supply chain for UCO that exposes jet fuel providers and their aviation clients to fraud risks and raises doubts about the climate benefits of the sector’s main green hope for the years ahead.
The US takes a more lenient approach on SAF feedstocks, allowing crop-based SAF derived from corn or sugarcane.
‘Saudi Arabia of SAF’
Brazil, which is set to allow non-waste vegetable oils like palm to be used in SAF production, wants to position itself as a major global player in efforts to decarbonise transport – including flying.
Aviation currently accounts for about 2.5% of global carbon emissions.
The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has highlighted Brazil’s potential to become a leading producer of feedstocks for SAF, which it has dubbed the “fuel of the future”.
As part of the government’s plans, airlines operating in Brazil will have to meet emissions-cutting targets by using a SAF fuel blend, starting with a 1% emissions reduction in 2027 that will rise to 10% by 2037.
Since BBF unveiled its trailblazing SAF plan, several more such projects have been announced, with tallow – a byproduct of cattle ranching – soy oil and ethanol made from sugarcane among the planned feedstocks. Brazil unveiled $1 billion in public financing last year for SAF projects, and received more than 70 proposals.
Gilberto Peralta, CEO of Airbus Brazil, told an agricultural investment conference last year that Brazil could become “the Saudi Arabia of SAF”, with its potential production far exceeding domestic needs. Like other SAF advocates, he argues that ample areas of degraded land could be used, without causing further deforestation.
But the controversy over using non-waste feedstocks could be one of the “key challenges” facing Brazil’s nascent SAF industry in competing abroad, said Pedro Guedes, biofuels analyst at Brazilian think-tank E+ Energy Transition Institute.
Human rights warning
Despite the growing hype around green aviation fuel, BBF’s financial difficulties and ongoing debt negotiations with its creditors have clouded its target to launch SAF production at the 2 billion reais ($390 million) biorefinery this year or in 2026.
Asked whether the refinery was scheduled to launch as planned, the company told InfoAmazonia it “will not be able to comment on new business operations due to the complex debt restructuring process”, adding that BBF aimed to “continue its strategic plan and resume sustainable growth of its operations”.
In its first-quarter report this year, the company told investors it faced “difficulty in obtaining new lines of financing to complete long-term projects”, without directly mentioning the refinery.
The company’s financing troubles began in August 2023, when Brazil’s National Human Rights Council (CNDH) recommended that seven banks – among them state development bank BNDES, state-run Banco do Brasil and Banco da Amazônia – should halt loan deals with the company over suspected violations against Indigenous people and others in Acará and Tomé-Açu in Pará, related to land disputes.
For years, tension between some local communities and BBF has simmered in the Amazon region over land ownership and rights – sometimes erupting into violence. The CNDH’s recommendation to banks came months after state prosecutors sought the arrest of a BBF director and its security chief for offences including torture.
The company denies wrongdoing in the case and says it has “suffered continuous invasions” of its properties in Pará since 2021.
‘No hunting, no fishing’
Back in Roraima, beside a muddy unpaved road outside São João da Baliza, signs reading “Private property” and “Hunting and fishing prohibited” stand in front of a plantation of mature oil palms.
The protected Indigenous Territory (TI) of the WaiWái people lies only about 10 km (six miles) away, but local leader Alexandre Waiwai said community members had no interest in hunting on the palm plantations, preferring to search for animals in the forest beyond.
Standing in his wooden house, the walls decorated with bows and arrows, Waiwai said many people feared that animals grazing on the plantations might ingest agrochemicals – despite BBF’s assurance it does not use them on its palm crops.
“Some animals like boar eat palm fruit. We’re afraid of contamination through the meat we hunt and also our water,” Waiwai said.
Villagers also complain about fires in areas surrounding their territory and smoke billowing out of the chimneys of BBF’s industrial plant. Community health worker Vanilda Waiwai said locals report high levels of respiratory problems.
The challenges facing BBF could hold lessons for other firms hoping to launch SAF projects in Brazil.
Guedes, from the E+ Energy Transition Institute, said Brazilian SAF producers expect human rights to be key parameters for entering international markets, adding that the country’s recently created national SAF programme is likely to take into account rights as well as biodiversity safeguards.
“We know we’ll have to present our credentials on human rights. There’s a concern in general (about human rights impacts) and Brazil is aware of that concern,” he said.
This investigation was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.
The post Brazilian firm behind SAF plan found growing oil palm on deforested Amazon land appeared first on Climate Home News.
Brazilian firm behind SAF plan found growing oil palm on deforested Amazon land
The Endangered Species Committee, known as the God Squad, issued a rare exemption from compliance with the Endangered Species Act for oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico.
Environmental groups are suing the Trump administration over its decision to exempt oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from complying with the Endangered Species Act, a move they say threatens both the coastline region and the law designed to protect threatened plants and animals.
Environmental Groups Take Trump Administration’s ‘God Squad’ to Court
The ocean’s fastest and most formidable predators might also be the most physiologically vulnerable to warming waters, researchers warn.
The evolutionary edge that fueled great white shark dominance for millions of years could soon become its greatest downfall.
Climate Change
China Briefing 16 April 2026: Billions for grid | Petrochemical plan | China’s high-seas bid
Welcome to Carbon Brief’s China Briefing.
China Briefing handpicks and explains the most important climate and energy stories from China over the past fortnight. Subscribe for free here.
Key developments
Surge in grid investment
TRILLION-YUAN ERA: China’s two largest power grid operators invested a total of 167.5bn yuan ($24.5bn) in the first quarter of 2026, reported state broadcaster CCTV. State Grid said that during this period it spent more than 10bn yuan on connecting “new energy” projects to the grid, up 50% from last year, reported Shanghai-based news outlet the Paper. The two state-owned enterprises (SOEs) plan to invest 1tn yuan ($146bn) annually over the 15th five-year plan period (2026-2030), said finance news outlet Yicai.
POWER CURBED: However, in what Bloomberg called a “clear signal that the grid is struggling to absorb all the extra power from the rapid growth in renewables”, solar and wind utilisation rates – the percentage of total power generated by a source that is used by the grid – fell again at the start of the year. They stood at 90.8% and 91.5%, respectively, in January and February 2026, according to a post by an SOE-linked research institute republished by energy news outlet International Energy Net. The rates are now “approaching [minimum] limits that the government had relaxed only two years ago”, added Bloomberg.
SIX PROVINCES SUPERVISED: A recent meeting of the National Energy Administration (NEA) concluded that China’s renewable installations had seen “steady growth” in 2026, adding that the body must make “sustained efforts” to “expand” investment in renewable power, reported International Energy Net. Separately, International Energy Net also said that the NEA will increase “supervision” of the power sectors in six provinces – Hebei, Jilin, Xinjiang, Fujian, Hunan and Guangdong. The outlet said this would entail scrutinising how they implement “energy conservation and carbon reduction” tasks, with a “focus” on coal plants, how they construct large clean-energy bases and their consumption of new energy, as well as their power infrastructure and markets.
Conflict spurred cooperation with China
CHINA ‘WINNING’: In Vienna, Chinese climate envoy Liu Zhenmin told state news agency Xinhua that the Middle East conflict has created an urgent need for countries to rethink energy security strategies and accelerate the energy transition. Xinhua also cited Liu as warning against over-reliance on a single source of energy imports. Meanwhile, state broadcaster CCTV published a segment arguing that a “greener” system will “provide a strong guarantee” for energy security, although it did not mention the conflict. Several outlets have continued to highlight how low-carbon energy has helped China weather the conflict and boosted sales of Chinese technologies, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Indian Express, Washington Post and Bloomberg. Semafor said China was “winning the global energy war”.
MANY MEETINGS: United Arab Emirates crown prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Chinese president Xi Jinping discussed how to “prevent further impacts” from the conflict on energy security, said Xinhua. Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said he addressed “regional energy security” with Chinese premier Li Qiang, reported Reuters. A post by China-Russia Information Net on nationalist media outlet Guancha quoted a Chinese diplomat in Russia telling reporters that “current dramatic changes in the international situation” are causing the two countries to discuss “further energy cooperation”. The Philippines is continuing to consider “oil and gas cooperation” with China, despite territorial disputes, Reuters also reported.
‘PROFOUND’ IMPACTS: Energy administration head Wang Hongzhi wrote a chapter in a “study guide” to the 15th five-year plan, published by industry outlet China Power News Net, in which he noted that “geopolitical conflicts are profoundly reshaping the global energy landscape”. He added that “traditional fossil fuels must continue to serve as a safety net while [China] simultaneously accelerates efforts to transition [to clean energy sources]”. Environment minister Huang Runqiu wrote in the CPPCC Daily, the official newspaper for the advisory body Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), that China will “earnestly” carry out “carbon peaking actions” in the next five years. Huang also said that, with “concerted efforts”, China’s 15th five-year plan targets are “achievable”.
Petrochemical plan published
UPGRADE DEADLINE: China issued a plan for either upgrading or phasing out “outdated” petrochemical plants by 2029, reported Reuters. It added that the plan did not confirm explicitly “how many plants may be upgraded or phased out”. The news outlet Economic Daily said that, according to the document, China would focus on upgrading or phasing out outdated capacity “as determined in 2025”, while also developing a “long-term working system” for assessing the industry. According to the full document, published on the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) website, carbon-emission assessments were part of the selection criteria, with policymakers planning on “developing or revising” further standards for carbon emissions under the plan.
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CHEMICAL OVERCAPACITY: The Paper quoted MIIT official Chang Guowu telling reporters that the plan will address the “low standards of design and construction” and “outdated processes” in older plants that lead to “significant” environmental risks. Xinhua said that, of China’s more than 27,000 petrochemical plants, “more than 1,600…outdated facilities” were reported in 2025, 600 of which required upgrading. Chemical news WeChat account WeLink Chemicals noted the policy was released against a backdrop of “overcapacity and declining demand for road transport fuels”, with the government having “stepped up efforts to curb overcapacity” in 2025.
More China news
- TARGET PLEDGED: China will cut the carbon intensity of its international shipping vessels by at least 15% by 2030 compared to 2025 levels, said climate outlet IdeaCarbon. It said China will also “significantly enhance” its influence in emission reduction talks at the International Maritime Organization.
- SANCHEZ VISITED: China and Spain “can contribute to finding solutions” for environmental issues, Spanish leader Pedro Sanchez told Xi Jinping, according to the Associated Press. Ahead of the meeting, Sanchez also argued China should play a more substantial role on climate change, said the Singapore-based Straits Times.
- CHINA COMMITTED: Huang Runqiu reaffirmed China’s support, “as always”, for global climate governance in a meeting with UN advisor Selwin Hart, said the Paper.
- FUNDING HALTED: The EU “quietly” approved a plan to prevent EU funds being provided to “clean technology projects containing Chinese inverters”, said the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.
- AI UNVEILED: Chinese researchers developed a “first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence model designed to track carbon emissions”, reported Xinhua, adding that it “could shift the balance of power” in global climate negotiations, such as by quantifying the “embedded carbon” of products that developed countries import from China.
- CONTROLS CONSIDERED: China is deliberating “limiting exports” to the US of the equipment needed to make solar panels, according to Reuters.
Spotlight
The debate over China’s bid to host the “high seas” treaty
The final preparatory commission for the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) agreement has closed, laying the groundwork for the treaty’s first conference of the parties (COP1).
One key agenda item was China’s presentation of a bid to host the secretariat. In this issue, Carbon Brief examines the debate surrounding the bid.
The BBNJ agreement, also known as the High Seas Treaty, governs the sustainable use and conservation of the “high seas” – marine areas outside national jurisdictions – with a new United Nations (UN) body established to oversee enforcement.
As well as facing significant impacts from climate change, the ocean plays an important role as a carbon sink, absorbing around 29% of man-made emissions.
The treaty “recognis[es]” the need to address oceanic biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, according to previous Carbon Brief analysis, identifying key impacts from climate change, acidification, pollution and “unsustainable” use.
It aims to encourage conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in the high seas, such as by managing “marine genetic resources”, creating protected areas in the ocean, developing environmental impact assessments and facilitating capacity-building and transfer of marine technology.
China’s bid
China’s bid to host the secretariat focused on its “sustainability efforts” and “commitment to multilateralism”, reported the Earth Negotiations Bulletin.
The country’s bid document drew attention to several of its emission-reduction efforts, including “green shipping corridors” and strengthening carbon sinks through protecting mangroves, seagrass beds and coral reefs.
In a speech, Chinese ambassador to the UN Fu Cong said that the bid “reflects China’s unwavering support” for multilateralism, adding that a successful Chinese bid would lead to the first UN-related body headquartered in the Asia Pacific region. He said:
“That means it will not only be welcomed, but also be prioritised. It will have the full backing from all levels of government in China and its people.”
Li Shuo, director at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s China climate hub, attended the meetings. He said in a note that China’s decision to bid “reportedly came from [President] Xi Jinping”, galvanising a coordinated cross-ministry effort to secure host the secretariat.
Creating debate
China entering the race has caused a stir.
As host, it could inhibit “robust environmental safeguards” by “embedding elements of its domestic governance model” into how the treaty operates, wrote Dr Chime Youdon, research fellow at India’s National Maritime Foundation, on the organisation’s platform.
But such concerns are weakened by the fact that China would “want the treaty to function” if it were host, argued Prof Philippe Le Billon and Zelda Ladefoged, professor and master’s student at the University of British Columbia, in an article for the Conversation.
Nevertheless, they noted “sustained” worries around China’s influence, given the extensive involvement of its companies in distant-water fishing and deep-sea mining, which are not covered in the treaty.
Li told Carbon Brief that, as far as he saw, no-one was “actively pushing back against” the bid on any of the above grounds. Instead, he observed “anxieties” around “accreditation, information security and visa and conference participation issues”.
Daniel Kachelriess, cross-cutting coordinator at the High Seas Alliance, an umbrella group of non-governmental organisations focused on ocean governance, echoed this in comments to Carbon Brief. He said “values like neutrality and impartiality, transparency and accountability” are important for the decision, as well as practical issues such as “reliable” internet access.
The Financial Times reported that Chinese delegates have offered immunity to attendees and flexibility around visas, citing unnamed sources.
But a successful Chinese bid could be a “significant escalation” of China’s involvement in global environmental governance, wrote Le Billon and Ladefoged.
As such, the BBNJ could prove a “case study” of sustaining environmental progress without the US and of China “learning to translate its ambitions into leadership”, said Li.
Watch, read, listen
PROFIT PRESSURE: The Economic Observer investigated how higher profit remittance requirements for state-owned enterprises is placing pressure on the balance sheets of power, coal and other energy companies.
CARNEY’S CALCULUS: The Wire China Podcast discussed how a deteriorating relationship with the US affected Canada’s approach to importing Chinese electric vehicles.
AFRICAN SOLAR: Climate Home News interviewed a renewables company working in Africa about what the end of Chinese solar export rebates could mean for the continent.
FUEL PRICE WOES: The New York Times published a video about how rising diesel prices are hitting China’s long-haul truck drivers hard.
140%
The year-on-year rise in March in exports of Chinese new-energy vehicles (NEVs, including both plug-in hybrids and pure electric vehicles), reported Bloomberg, citing renewed interest caused by the “global energy shock stemming from the Iran war”.
-14%
The year-on-year fall in March in domestic sales of Chinese NEVs, reported Yicai, citing “changes to the NEV purchase tax exemption and the overlapping effects of the Chinese New Year holiday”.
New science
- Between 1978 and 2023, emissions of “gaseous reactive nitrogen” – including ammonia and nitrous oxide – from croplands in China more than doubled | PNAS
- There are “disparities in [the] energy transition” between households in rural China, with small, low-income households and areas in the Loess plateau facing a “disproportionate energy burden and energy poverty” | Communications Earth and Environment
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China Briefing is written by Anika Patel, with contributions from Lekai Liu, and edited by Simon Evans. Please send tips and feedback to china@carbonbrief.org
The post China Briefing 16 April 2026: Billions for grid | Petrochemical plan | China’s high-seas bid appeared first on Carbon Brief.
China Briefing 16 April 2026: Billions for grid | Petrochemical plan | China’s high-seas bid
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