JATRO Biofuels AG, a Germany based renewable energy company focusing on the large scale cultivation and commercialization of jatropha curcas plantations in tropical Asia, Africa and Latin America.
JATRO engages in non-food oil crops that offer not only a positive energy balance but also economic prospects for impoverished and disadvantaged rural areas.
JATRO believes jatropha curcas to be the most favorable feedstock and to offer the best opportunity for responsible and sustainable biofuel production without undermining food production and diverting arable farmland. With the exception of palm oil jatropha promises better crop yields than all other biodiesel feedstock.
By using selective high-yielding feedstock and implementing innovative processes and advanced technologies, our jatropha operations in tropical areas are competitive with fossil fuel and conventional energy.
Biofuels have taken center stage. Being the focal point of a controversial debate about climate change, energy security and food price increase, biofuels necessarily polarize. Depending on climatic and geographical features and even more so on methodology, political agendas and ideologies, energy crops either qualify as a miraculous cinderella plant or are being blamed for distorted food, fuel and commodity markets.
Misguided bio-fuel mandates in combination with one-sided agricultural policies and protective measures (including tax concessions and government subsidies to farmers) may have even contributed to the painful failure of the multilateral trade talks of the Doha Round.
Because of the confusion and ambiguity surrounding the production of biofuels, it’s easy to twist the information to suit the message. As a consequence, biofuels enjoy public support as much as they provoke criticism. JATRO is destined to cut through the rhetoric fog and lobbying and separate the facts from the myths.
Fact is that not all biofuels are created equal. They can be produced from a wide range of crops and thus vary significantly in terms of characteristics and environmental impacts. This built-in ambiguity means that biofuels must be analyzed and judged independently. Just as there are different types of biofuels, there are different species of underlying feedstock for them. While Bio-ethanol is generally derived through fermentation from crops such as sugar cane, corn or wheat, Bio-diesel is generally derived through esterification of vegetable oils from crops such as soybean, rapeseed, palm or jatropha.
To date biofuels are facing many challenges, stemming from structural agricultural components as employment and farm income issues to chemical, fertilizer and fuel inputs impacting the overall energy balance of different biofuel products.
Measuring the environmental, economic and energetic performance of biofuels requires the consideration of the full life cycle of these products, i.e. from agricultural production and its use of various inputs (e.g. fertilizer and water) to the conversion of agricultural feedstock to liquid fuels and to the use of the biofuel in combustion engines.
Aware of the disputes over the effective eco-friendliness of biofuels, and conscious of the eventual backlashes that they might imply, JATRO
- strives to be at the forefront of innovation by implementing best practices and formulating renewable energy certification criteria.
- only targets marginal, idle, or degraded lands which are unsuitable for food production and poor in biodiversity.
- gives priority to feedstock and viable production models which respect biodiversity, maximize opportunities for farmers and provide smallholders sufficient freedom of choice in their farming decisions to ensure food security.
- commits to engage in and support the development of international sustainability standards (including social and environmental criteria).
- assesses the implications of a possible distinctive trade code for biofuels.
- prioritizes technologies that promise the most efficient use of biomass for energy, such as heat and power.
- pursues a truly integrated energy approach by combining jatropha biofuel plantations with other sources of renewable energy, in particular wind and solar power.
In executing our bioenergy strategies, JATRO will move with caution but determination. Simultaneously, we will pursue ongoing research & development efforts to further increase yield, crop efficiency and energy balance. In doing so, we are aware that considerable capital investment and continued political support is required.
