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This work has as its purpose to evaluate the greenhouse effect gases (GHGs) emissions from ethanol-powered buses, which were introduced in the urban transportation system of the city of São Paulo, in 2007, by means of Project BEST - BioEthanol for Sustainable Transport with the goal of promoting ethanol usage in substitution to diesel in public transportation, aiming at the reduction of atmospheric pollution in great urban centers and at the reduction of global warming. The engine is advanced even for the strict European emission standards, because it meets the EURO 5 specifications and the Enhanced Environmental Vehicle (EEV), besides surpassing the limits imposed by the P-7 stage of PROCONVE. Today, ethanol-powered buses became a reality, because the chassis and the engine, then imported, as well as the additive for the ethanol, are already manufactured in Brazil.

This paper will present the BEST project - BioEthanol for Sustainable Transport, developed by CENBIO-Brazilian Reference Center on Biomass. It's an European Union initiative, coordinated by the Stockholm City Hall, that aims to promote the ethanol usage, replacing diesel, in the urban public transport. Apart from São Paulo, leading city in the Americas, another eight cities located in Europe and Asia take part in the project. One of the Brazilian project's goals is to evaluate ethanol usage as diesel fuel replacement in public transport buses by comparatively following the operational output of the experimental fleet (fuel consumption, performance and occurred failures), taking as reference an equivalent diesel bus. The utilized test vehicles will be evaluated and monitored to demonstrate ethanol energetic efficiency and, after the results, the BEST project and the European Union will set a blue print for public policies to incentive ethanol usage in the urban public transport.