Environment

Environmental management

Sustainable growth of the business depends on a balanced relationship with the environment. For Cosan, environmental responsibility a pillar and it works to seek sustainability and the continuous improvement of processes.

All the environmental actions developed by Cosan have been implemented according to legislation in force and the company’s internal policies.

Cosan’s actions are designed to raise awareness amongst its employees, their families and the general community on the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling disposable items, as well as reinforcing the rational and conscious use of natural resources.

An early adopter of the Agri-environmental Protocol, signed at the Environment and Agriculture Department, Cosan has met the established technical guidelines, including deadlines to eliminate the burning of sugarcane crops.

Preservation of the riparian forest

Permanent Preservation Areas (PPA) are protected areas, covered or not by native vegetation, with the environmental purpose of protecting water resources, the landscape, geological stability, biodiversity, the fauna and flora and the soil, and to assure the well-being of human populations.

Today, around 660 hectares of native forests, riparian forests, rivers and streams are cared for by the company. Between 2004 and 2006, 1.1 million trees were planted and around R$ 12.5 million were invested in this area.

Crop burning

Cosan follows controlled crop burning, by preferably burning crops at night to avoid higher-temperature periods. This procedure is formally announced to the responsible technical bodies for monitoring purposes.

In order to eliminate the burning of sugarcane crops before the date stipulated by State Law nº 11.241/02, Cosan entered into the Agri-environmental Protocol, being granted the respective “Agri-environmental Compliance Certificate”.

In addition to the controlled burning of the sugarcane crop, the Agri-environmental Protocol deals with other important issues, such as soil and water resource conservation, the protection of riparian forests, water spring recovery, atmospheric emission reductions, and the careful use of pesticides.

Water resources

Cosan maintains the physical and chemical characteristics of water and ensures the sustainability of water resources. To that end, it treats waste water in a lagoon system that sends the treated water back to rivers, resulting in the environmental maintenance of such a natural resource. The company thus contributes to the availability of water resources, whether surface or underground, maintaining them as valuable and conserved assets.

Reusing byproducts

There are a number of byproducts produced by sugar and ethanol production. In order to find a proper and efficient purpose for these byproducts, Cosan uses a variety of recycling processes:

Vinasse from ethanol distillation and water from sugarcane washing are used to irrigate sugarcane crops in fertirrigation

The filter cake from the sugarcane juice filtering and the ashes from the boiler, resulting form bagasse burning, are used in the crops as organic fertilizers

The bagasse resulting from sugarcane crushing is used in electric energy cogeneration