Mato Grosso has softened the terms of an environmental agreement aimed at ending the use of biomass sourced from native vegetation by major industrial consumers, including corn ethanol producers.
A revised version of the Environmental Commitment Agreement, (TCA, in Portuguese) signed in recent days, allows companies to continue sourcing up to 40% of their biomass from native vegetation through 2034.
From 2035 onward, biomass supplies must come exclusively from reforested wood and material harvested under approved Sustainable Forest Management Plans (PMFS).
The changes effectively extend by one year the deadline for eliminating native biomass consumption. They also scrap a previously planned step-down schedule that would have gradually reduced the share of native biomass used by large consumers between 2031 and 2034.
The agreement marks the culmination of an investigation launched last year by Mato Grosso state prosecutors to determine whether local regulations were aligned with Brazil’s national environmental laws.
The use of native vegetation as an energy source by large industrial facilities has been prohibited under Brazil’s Forest Code for at least 14 years. Even so, the practice came under renewed scrutiny from the Mato Grosso Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPMT) beginning in November.
At the center of the dispute is a 2022 regulation issued by the state environmental agency that authorized the use of native wood as biomass, despite the federal restrictions.
The issue has exposed a divide within the sector. Supporters of the policy argue that native biomass provides a practical transition fuel while alternative supplies are developed. Reforestation companies, meanwhile, say the state’s decision undermined incentives to invest in planted forests.
