G20 Summit: India pitches for clean energy with launch of global biofuel alliance

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA) at a G20 summit in New Delhi, which has India, the United States, and Brazil as its founding members. PM Modi urged G20 countries and other nations to join the group and work together to take an initiative at a global level to take ethanol blending in petrol up to 20%.

“Today, the need of the hour is that all countries should work together in the field of fuel blending. Our proposal is to take an initiative at a global level to take ethanol blending in petrol up to 20 percent. Or alternatively, we could work on developing another blending mix for the greater global good, one that ensures a stable energy supply while also contributing to climate security. In this context, today, we are launching the Global Biofuel Alliance. India invites all of you to join this initiative,” says the PM, while speaking at the G20 Summit in New Delhi.

Earlier in February this year during India Energy Week 2023, Hardeep S Puri, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing & Urban Affairs, had said that the global biofuel alliance was one of the priorities under India’s G20 presidency.

Brazil, India, and the United States, as leading biofuel producers and consumers, have been working together during the last few months towards the development of a global biofuels alliance along with other interested countries. This alliance will be aimed at facilitating cooperation and intensifying the use of sustainable biofuels, including in the transportation sector. It will 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 will also emphasise the already implemented best practices and success cases.

The alliance intends to 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 (GBEP).

India, under its G20 presidency, had identified six priority areas for the energy transitions working group. These were energy transitions through addressing technology gaps; low-cost financing for energy transitions; energy security and diversified supply chains; energy efficiency, industrial low-carbon transitions, and responsible consumption; fuels for Future and universal access to clean energy and just, affordable, and inclusive energy transition pathways.