Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA)

What’s in Today’s Article?

• Why in News?
• About the Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA)
• Countries and Organisations which have Already Joined GBA
• Significance of the GBA Initiative
• Significance of the GBA Initiative for India
• India’s Success Story that the World can Replicate

Why in News?

• The Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) was formally launched by the Indian PM on the side-lines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi.
• The GBA has been in the works for some time now and the Indian government had announced (in February 2023) that Brazil, India and the US will work together with other interested countries and agencies to develop the GBA.

About the Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA):

• GBA is an India-led Initiative to develop an alliance of Governments, International organisations and Industry to facilitate adoption of biofuels through international cooperation.
• Bringing together the biggest consumers and producers of biofuels to drive biofuels sustainable development and deployment, the initiative aims to position biofuels as a key to energy transition and contribute to jobs and economic growth.
• GBA will offer capacity-building exercises across the value chain, technical support for national programs 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 development, adoption and implementation of internationally recognised standards, codes, sustainability principles and regulations to incentivize biofuels adoption and trade.

Countries and Organisations which have Already Joined GBA:

• 19 countries:
  • G20 countries (7) supporting GBA: 1. Argentina, 2. Brazil, 3. Canada, 4. India 5. Italy, 6. South Africa, 7. USA.
  • G20 Invitee Countries (4) supporting GBA: 1. Bangladesh, 2. Singapore, 3. Mauritius, 4. UAE.
  • Non G20 (8) supporting GBA: 1. Iceland, 2. Kenya, 3. Guyana, 4. Paraguay, 5. Seychelles, 6. Sri Lanka, 7. Uganda, and 8. Finland.
• 12 international organisations:
  • World Bank, Asian Development Bank, World Economic Forum,
  • World LPG Organisation, UN Energy for All,
  • UNIDO, Biofutures Platform, International Civil Aviation Organization,
  • IEA, International Energy Forum, International Renewable Energy Agency and World Biogas Association.
• GBA Members constitute major producers and consumers of biofuels. USA (52%), Brazil (30%) and India (3%), contribute about 85% share in production and about 81% in consumption of ethanol.

Significance of the GBA Initiative:

• Biofuels refer to renewable fuels derived from biomass–from plants or agricultural, animal, domestic, and industrial biowaste.
  • Biofuels are significantly cleaner than the conventional fossil fuels.
  • Hence, the launch of the GBA marks a watershed moment in the quest towards sustainability and clean energy.
• This will cater to common global goods of climate change mitigation through reduced carbon emissions, achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) and circular economy.
• The Alliance is focused on securing the supply of biofuels (by resolving feedstock supply issues, technological limitations, policy framework, and financing and investment), ensuring these biofuels remain affordable.

Significance of the GBA Initiative for India:

• Help strengthen India’s position globally: GBA as a tangible outcome of the G20 presidency, showcases the action-oriented nature of India’s positive agenda as G20 President and represents the “Voice of the Global South’’.
• Provide opportunities to Indian industries: The alliance will focus on collaboration and will provide additional opportunities to Indian industries in the form of exporting technology and exporting equipment.
• 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.
• Biofuels growth potential:
  • The global ethanol market was valued at USD 99.06 billion in 2022 and is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 5.1% by 2032 and surpass USD 162.12 billion by 2032.
  • As per International Energy Agency (IEA), there will be 3.5-5x biofuels growth potential by 2050 due to Net Zero targets, creating a huge opportunity for India.
• Reducing import dependency of crude oil:
  • India is the world’s third-largest consumer of crude oil and depends on imports to meet over 85% of its requirement of the commodity.
  • Increasing the use of biofuels is a key tool towards two ends - reducing dependency on energy imports and limiting the carbon footprint of the country’s rapidly growing energy use.

India’s Success Story that the World can Replicate:

• After initial hiccups, India has tasted success in its ethanol-petrol blending programme in the past few years.
• India achieved the target of 10% ethanol blending in petrol, months ahead of the targeted timeline of November 2022.
• The success in the ethanol blending programme prompted the government to advance the deadline for pan-India E20-petrol with 20% ethanol-rollout to 2025-26 from 2030.
• According to the Indian government, the country is well on track to meet the revised E20 petrol timeline. India has urged G-20 nations to take ethanol blending with petrol globally to 20%.
• India is also looking at blending diesel with suitable biofuels and natural gas with biogas.

Q1) What is the World Biogas Association?

The World Biogas Association is the global trade association for the biogas, landfill gas and anaerobic digestion (AD) sectors, dedicated to facilitating the adoption of biogas globally.

Q2) What is India's ethanol-petrol blending programme?

The Ethanol Blending Programme (EBP) seeks to achieve blending of Ethanol with motor spirit with a view to reducing pollution, conserving foreign exchange and increasing value addition in the sugar industry enabling them to clear cane price arrears of farmers.

Source: G-20 Summit | PM Modi announces launch of Global Biofuel Alliance | IE | PIB