São Paulo, November 2020 – Corporate citizenship has been essential to minimize the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on society. After donating more than 1.5 million liters of alcohol to sanitize hospitals and public offices in more than 100 cities in Brazil, Cosan, through Raízen, is now donating hand sanitizer and 70% alcohol to be used by voters in all electoral zones of Brazil, thereby contributing to a fundamental event in the Brazilian democratic process. Municipal elections will be held on November 15 and 29 (1st and 2nd rounds, respectively).

Raízen, a joint venture between Cosan and Shell, has been active in several social projects since the beginning of the pandemic. With the approach of this year’s elections, the company joined a task force of companies and entities to ensure safety in all electoral zones across the country. The company will donate 2.2 million containers of hand sanitizer to be used by voters and 420,000 containers of 70% alcohol to sanitize voting sites in the 26 Brazilian states and the Federal District.

The donation process will involve important partners such as UNICA (Sugarcane Industry Association) and Companhia Nacional de Álcool (CNA), which will contribute part of the raw materials and the production of hand sanitizer and 70% alcohol. All the logistics required to take the products to the Regional Electoral Courts (TREs) will be organized by the donor companies.

Raízen, as part of a private-sector movement to ensure the supply of essential products and the continuity of essential operations in Brazil, has already donated more than 1.5 million liters of 70% alcohol to 98 hospitals in 119 cities in nine states, including São Paulo, Goiás, Paraná and Minas Gerais.

“Time like these require mutual collaboration to combine strength and skills. Through the partnerships we have formed, we are committed to making our expertise available to help the country during an extremely important moment. This is a time for unity and combined efforts to overcome barriers and minimize the impact of this pandemic,” said Ricardo Mussa, Raízen’s CEO.

According to Coperalcool’s chief operating officer, Júlio César Alonso, “this initiative reflects the essence of our company, which has always worked to ensure the preservation of democracy and now is giving an opportunity not only to all who wish to work in the elections, but also to all voters, to exercise democracy and citizenship through voting, in a safe way, without compromising their health or the health of their families.”

About Raízen

We are Raízen – an integrated energy company that is a benchmark in biofuels. We operate throughout the sugarcane production chain, up to fuel commercialization, logistics and distribution. Our energy is essential to move people and leverage businesses. Therefore, in addition to delivering energy that the market needs today, we invest in solutions that contribute to the global energy transition agenda in a gradual and sustainable manner. We are leaders in the production of biofuels and bioelectricity from sugarcane, and we continue to invest to expand our portfolio of renewable energy sources, including second-generation ethanol (E2G), biogas, biomass and solar energy generation.

With a team of 29,000 employees, we operate 26 sugar, ethanol and bioenergy production units—and a 2G ethanol plant—with an installed capacity for processing 73 million tons of sugarcane, which in the 2019-2019 crop year produced approximately 2.5 billion liters of ethanol and 3.8 million tons of sugar. We have 860,000 hectares of agricultural areas cultivated with state-of-the-art technology, with 100% mechanized harvesting. We have an installed capacity for energy generation of approximately 1GW and, in the last harvest, produced 2.1 TWh of electrical energy from sugarcane biomass. In the 2019-2020 crop year, we sold approximately 26.9 TWh of energy in the free energy market through a joint venture with WX Energy, reinforcing our trading activities in this market.

With a network of more than 7,300 Shell gas stations in Brazil and Argentina, we have presence and proximity to deliver the energy that our customers need. And through the NÓS Group (joint venture with Femsa), we operate in retail with more than 1,000 Shell Select convenience stores in gas stations and with OXXO proximity stores, an established brand in Latin America. In the B2B and retail segments, in the 2019-2020 cycle, we sold approximately 27.1 billion liters of fuel in all regions of Brazil through 67 airport supply bases and 67 fuel distribution terminals. In Argentina, where we have operated under the Shell brand since 2018, in the last cycle we sold 6.1 billion liters of fuel and maintained a network of approximately 730 Shell stations, a refinery, a lubricant plant, four land terminals and two supply bases at airports.

We are one the largest companies in Brazil in terms of revenue (R$ 120.6 billion in the 2019-2020 crop year). We create jobs and income, thereby boosting the economy, and invest in social responsibility initiatives, supporting several projects. Through the Raízen Foundation, we offer young people complementary education, encouraging people in situations of social vulnerability to discover themselves professionally and lead their own paths. We also work on developing cooperation with communities surrounding our operations; through this effort, in the 2019-2020 crop year we benefited more than 1,700 students and another 3 million people by providing professional training, education and citizenship awareness.