The largest city in Brazil aims to generate 69% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020.

The state government of Sao Paulo (pictured) launched the ‘Plan Paulista de Energia’ (PPE) – which proposes policies for the sustainable development of the state – and increased its renewables target from the current 55%.

According to the PPE, Sao Paulo has the potential to more than double its electricity to 13,000MW in the next seven years by burning sugarcane residues, with investments of R$28 billion (£8.15bn) coming from the private sector.

Earlier this year a Brazilian sugarcane group raised its alarm over EU plans to put a cap on the use of fuel-based biofuels and ELN also reported the Brazilian Government could pay as much as 2.8 billion reals (£880m) to energy companies for cuts in electricity tariffs.