The Brazilian Symposium on Biorefineries is a biannual meeting that aims to promote the debate regarding the potential and challenges of the biorefineries in order to contribute to the green economy development. Promoted by Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) in partnership with the Brazilian Association of Chemical Industry (Abiquim) and the German Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (Dechema), the II SNBr will be held from 24 to 26 september, 2013, at the Brasil 21 Convention Center in Brasilia/ DC. http://convencoesbrasil21.com.br/. The event has the institutional support of The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (Iupac), The Iberoamerican Society for the Development of Biorefineries (Siadeb), The Brazilian Association of Fine Chemistry, Biotechnology and its Specialties Industries (Abifina), The Brazilian Association of Sugarcane Industry (Unica), The Brazilian Association for R&D in Innovative Companies (Anpei), European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences (EuCheMS) and The Regional Council of Chemistry of São Paulo State (CRQ Region IV); this is an Iupac official event. The current sponsors are: Braskem (the major latin American petrochemical industry) and the Brazilian Council of Research and Development (CNPq).