After a number of leadership roles in the Downstream Oil sector, including CFO of a BP business unit and Sales Director for Castrol Automotive in Northern Europe, I had the privilege of joining the newly-formed BP Biofuels business at its inception in 2006. The purpose of this new business was to make large-scale investments in new technologies and production assets to develop higher quality, more sustainable and more affordable biofuels. This led to a number of significant projects and investments, including the construction of a new ethanol plant in the UK, the acquisition of three sugarcane-to-ethanol mills in Brazil, and technology programmes for 2nd generation technologies including ligno-cellulosic ethanol, bio-butanol and heterotrophic algae.

In 2014, I was appointed to lead the BP Midstream business in the UK, which included direct accountability for compliance with the RTFO (UK renewable fuel regulation) and margin maximisation from our biofuels activities. Then between 2018 and 2020, I led the Biofuels Centre of Expertise for BP in Europe, a cross-functional team responsible for achieving maximum margin from the obligated demand generated by biofuels regulations across EU countries.

These two phases of my career have given me a unique insight into the end-to-end biofuels value chain, from early stage technology evaluation and feedstock choices to compliance fulfillment and – crucially – margin maximisation.

Paulo Macedo is the Global Director of International Relations, Policy & Advocacy at Raizen, the largest player of ethanol, sugar and integrated bioenergy in the world. Prior to Raizen, Paulo was the Vice President of Shell for Latin America & Caribbean, Deputy Chairman and VP of Shell in the Middle East and VP of Shell South America. In his 27 years of experience, Paulo has also held several executive positions at Heineken Brewing Company and The Coca-Cola Company in the US, Europe and Asia.

Paulo currently resides in Houston and looks after Raizen’s advocacy and public affairs efforts globally. Paulo holds law degrees from the Catholic University of Sao Paulo and Harvard Law School, and an MBA from Emory University.