Raizen, the world's largest sugar and ethanol producer, strived to find ways to expand the second-generation ethanol (E2G) market, which it pioneered. The company planned to invest R$24 billion (around $4.6 billion) in 20 production plants, with a total capacity to make approximately 1.6 billion liters of E2G. Paula Kovarsky, the company's Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer, firmly believed that E2G was a readily available biofuel that could assist in the decarbonization of several industries, helping the world navigate the energy transitional and achieve its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. Ethanol had already transformed Brazil, where flex-fuel vehicles dominated the streets. Raizen sought to prove that second-generation ethanol, made from a byproduct of sugarcane, that did not compete with food production, could do the same for the world, especially in hard to decarbonize sectors, such as aviation and shipping.

This note describes some of the most significant agricultural innovations in the Netherlands, their drivers, environmental performance implications, some challenges facing the sector, and the potential replicability of these innovations to other contexts.