New Delhi: The world’s quest for cleaner and greener energy has gained historic momentum with the launch of the Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA) on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, said Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas. Expressing his views through a series of posts on social media platform ‘X,’ formerly known as Twitter, the minister said that following the mantra of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,’ this effort of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will definitely reduce the dependence on petrol and diesel across the world. “India will show the world a new path on biofuels through the Global Biofuels Alliance,” said Puri on X.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of the Global Biofuels Alliance on the sidelines of the G20 Summit on September 9. Around 19 countries and 12 international organisations have already agreed to join the alliance.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister expressed his gratitude to Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of Department of Energy, US, Alexandre Silveira, Energy Minister of Brazil and Dr Evandro Gussi, President & CEO of UNICA Brazil, “for germinating the seeds of forming Global Biofuels Alliance.”
Puri noted that the visionary Global Biofuels Alliance supported by G20 Nations and global organisations in the energy sector like the International Energy Agency (IEA), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), World Economic Forum (WEO), and World LPG Association, among others, will strengthen global biofuels trade and best practices, allowing the members to successfully face the Energy Quadrilemma. This will bolster the transformation of our farmers from ‘Annadatas to Urjadatas’ by adding an additional source of income, said an official statement released by the Petroleum Ministry. In the last nine years, we have given Rs 71,600 cr to our farmers. With E20 implementation by 2025, India will save about Rs 45,000 crore in oil imports and 63 MT of oil annually, added Puri.
GBA is an India-led initiative to develop an alliance of governments, international organisations and the industry to facilitate the adoption of biofuels. Bringing together the biggest consumers and producers of biofuels to drive the biofuel development and deployment, the initiative aims to position biofuels as a key to energy transition and contribute to jobs and economic growth.
GBA will support the development and deployment of sustainable biofuels worldwide by offering capacity-building exercises across the value chain, technical support for national programmes and promoting policy lessons-sharing. It will facilitate mobilising a virtual marketplace to assist industries, countries, ecosystem players and key stakeholders in mapping demand and supply, as well as connecting technology providers to end users. It will also facilitate the development, adoption and implementation of internationally-recognised standards, codes, sustainability principles and regulations to incentivise biofuels adoption and trade.
The initiative will be beneficial for India on multiple fronts. As a tangible outcome of the G20 presidency, GBA will help strengthen India’s position globally. Moreover, the alliance will focus on collaboration and will provide additional opportunities to Indian industries in the form of exporting technology and exporting equipment. It will help accelerate India’s existing biofuels programmes such as PM-JIVANYojna, SATAT, and GOBARdhan scheme, thereby contributing to increased farmers’ income, creating jobs and the overall development of the Indian ecosystem. The global ethanol market was valued at USD 99.06 billion in 2022 and is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 5.1 percent by 2032 and surpass USD 162.12 billion by 2032. As per IEA, biofuels are expected to grow 3.5-5x by 2050 due to Net Zero targets, creating a huge opportunity for India.
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