Historic moment in Global Energy Sector: Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) announced at G20 event

Source: The post is based on the article “Historic moment in Global Energy Sector: Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) announced at G20 event”  published in PIB on 11th September 2023

What is the News?

The Indian Prime Minister has launched the Global Biofuel Alliance during the G20 Summit in New Delhi.

What is the Global Biofuel Alliance?

Global Biofuel Alliance is an India-led initiative to develop an alliance of Governments, International organizations and Industry to facilitate adoption of biofuels.

Aim: To position biofuels as a key to energy transition and contribute to jobs and economic growth.

Features: The alliance will support worldwide development and deployment of sustainable biofuels by offering capacity-building exercises across the value chain, technical support for national programs and promoting policy lessons-sharing. 

– It will also facilitate mobilizing 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.

Countries and organizations which have already joined GBA: 19 countries and 12 international organizations have already agreed to join GBA:

– G20 countries supporting GBA: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India, taly, South Africa and USA

– G20 Invitee Countries supporting GBA: Bangladesh, Singapore, Mauritius and UAE

– Non G20 supporting GBA: Iceland, Kenya, Guyana, Paraguay, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Finland

– International organizations: World Bank, Asian Development Bank, World Economic Forum, World LPG Organization, UN Energy for All, UNIDO, Biofutures Platform, International Civil Aviation Organization, International Energy Agency, International Energy Forum, International Renewable Energy Agency, World Biogas Association.

Significance of the alliance for India: 

Firstly, for India, which is the world’s third-largest consumer of crude oil and depends on imports to meet over 85 percent of its requirement of the commodity, increasing the use of biofuels is a key tool towards two ends: 1) reducing dependency on energy imports and 2) limiting the carbon footprint of the country’s rapidly growing energy use.

Secondly, the alliance will help accelerate India’s existing biofuels programs such as PM-JIVAN Yojna, SATAT and GOBARdhan scheme thereby contributing to increased farmers’ income, creating jobs and overall development of the Indian ecosystem.