Bioenergy is already and will increasingly
represent, an integral player in the fight
to reduce levels of greenhouse gas emissions
and fine dust particles in the air. An
increasing number of countries, including
the European Union, are actively sustaining
this growth as bioenergy remains the only
concrete viable alternative to fossil fuels
in the field of road transport and they may
also play an important role in the energy sector.

The Falck Group commenced development in this business segment at the end of 2006, with the aim of positioning itself in the entire value chain of the B2B market. In particular, the "upstream" production phases, representing production from agricultural raw materials, are considered to be of major interest and are those on which the company focuses its efforts.

In this area the BioFuels Business Unit today operates in numerous countries through agricultural-industrial projects that are important not only in financial, but also socio-environmental terms: from the creation of qualified employment opportunities, to improvements in the environment and the living conditions of poorly developed areas, to local social initiatives.

In the Ukraine an agricultural raw material production project, comprising rapeseed oil, soy oil, and wheat, is already under way; in 2007 the first 10,000 hectares of land was sown and production will grow rapidly to cover an area of at least 150,000 hectares.

In India the first of a series of plants that produce bioethanol from molasses (a sugarcane production waste product) is in progress. India is in fact, after Brazil, the highest producer of sugarcane, and represents an important opening in the market for bioethanol as it is already mandatory to blend 5% ethanol in petrol ("E5 mandate"), which from October will increase to 10%. The objective, at full capacity, is to produce more than 100,000 tons of bioethanol a year.

In 2006 work had already commenced in Laos, using marginal land that was not destined for the cultivation of alimentary products, on the development of jatropha plantations, a plurennial plant from which a non-edible oil is obtained that may be used in the production of biodiesel or used as fuel in the direct production of energy.

In Malaysia, activities are under way for the production and retail of palm oil.