India launches Global Biofuel Alliance

PRIME Minister Shri Narendra Modi, along with the leaders of Singapore, Bangladesh, Italy, the United States of America (US), Brazil, Argentina, Mauritius and the United Arab Emirates, launched the Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA) on Sept. 9, 2023 on the sidelines of the Group of 20 or G20 Summit in New Delhi.

The GBA was one of the priorities under India’s G20 Presidency, where Modi urged G20 and other nations to join the initiative, with a plea to take ethanol blending with petrol globally to 20 percent.

Initially, 19 countries and 12 international organizations joined the initiative, including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the World Economic Forum. Subsequently, with the addition of the Philippines and Tanzania to the alliance, it now had 21 countries as members.

The GBA intended to expedite the global uptake of biofuels through facilitating technology advancements, intensifying utilization of sustainable biofuels, shaping robust standard setting and certification through the participation of a wide spectrum of stakeholders.

The alliance would also act as a central repository of knowledge and an expert hub. GBA aimed to serve as a catalytic platform, fostering global collaboration for the advancement and widespread adoption of biofuels.

India and the US have a strong bilateral partnership in the energy sector since 2005. In April 2021 an India-US Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership was launched with two tracks, which are Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) and Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue.

SCEP focused on government, industry and other stakeholder efforts to advance energy security, clean energy innovation and decarbonization efforts to support the bilateral and global energy transition while ensuring clean energy access.

The Joint Statement, issued on July 18, 2003 after the third Ministerial Meeting of the SCEP between the Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the US Energy Secretary, stated,“The Ministers affirmed the vision of President Biden and Prime Minister Modi for establishing the Global Biofuel Alliance.”

Earlier on Feb. 11, 2023, a press note of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas stated that Brazil, India and the US, as leading biofuel producers and consumers, will work together during the next few months toward the development of a GBA along with other interested countries.

This alliance would be aimed at facilitating cooperation and intensifying the use of sustainable biofuels, including in the transportation sector. It would place emphasis on strengthening markets, facilitating global biofuels trade, development of concrete policy lesson sharing and provision of technical support for national biofuels programs worldwide.

It would also emphasize the already implemented best practices and success cases. The GBA would work in collaboration with and complement the relevant existing regional and international agencies, as well as initiatives in the bioenergy, bioeconomy and energy transition fields more broadly, including the Clean Energy Ministerial Biofuture Platform, the Mission Innovation Bioenergy initiatives and the Global Bioenergy Partnership.

Unlike other renewal energy sources, biomass could be directly converted into liquid and gaseous fuel – most common of which are ethanol for blending with petrol and biodiesel for blending with diesel. Biofuel sources were mainly crop residue, animal waste, residue from cooking oils and nonfood biomass.

India was now the world’s third largest producer and user of ethanol, thanks to nearly tripling production in the past 5 years. It has already achieved 10 percent blending of ethanol with petrol and aims to reach 20 percent by 2025 to 2026.

India imported 85 percent of its oil needs. The transportation sector contributed to significant chunks of emissions. In order to meet its target of net-zero emissions by 2070, India embarked vigorously on replacing a significant portion of its fossil fuel consumption with biofuels.

Though not absolutely emission free, biofuels have a lower emissions intensity than fossil fuels. Blending of biodiesel with diesel had been mandated from April 1, 2023.

A hundred such plants were expected to come onstream across the country with an investment of about Rs. 2000 crore. The potential for biofuels in India was about one billion tonnes with feedstock of only a miniscule portion coming from domestic crops, about 25 to 30 percent from agricultural residue and the major portion from other residues.

Global climate factor was propelling people, investments and projects into this sector.The government of India’s push for net-zero emissions and its biofuel initiatives, including its international partners, have ensured that funds and technology are flowing into this sector such as the Neev Fund – a joint venture between the State Bank of India and the United Kingdom Government.

GBA was also expected to provide additional opportunities to Indian industries in the form of exporting technology and equipment, generating employment and skill development.

The International Energy Agency (IEA), of which India is an association country, had put its weight behind GBA. Globally, the production and use of biofuels, which contributes significantly toward net-zero emission goals, was not progressing as rapidly as it should.

The IEA was of the view that sustainable biofuel production needs to triple by 2030 to help reduce emissions from new and existing trucks, planes,shipsandpassengervehiclesthathavefewothermitigationoptions.

Brazil, India and the US showcased policies that have driven considerable growth in supply. As these three countries are the prime movers behind the establishment of the GBA, the IEA expected the alliance to accelerate the deployment of secure and affordable biofuels globally.

India recognized the significance of biofuels in mitigating carbon emissions, particularly in the transportation sector, and adopted policies and practices early to give a concrete boost to the production and use of biofuels, particularly ethanol and biodiesel.

However, India also realized that climate change mitigation cannot be successful unless adopted on a global scale. Hence, India took the initiative, in consultation with countries and organizations having a similar outlook such as the USA and IEA, to concretize the idea of a forum to drive the greater production and use of biofuels. This culminated in the launch of the GBA at the G20 Summit in New Delhi last year.