India’s pitch for setting up a Global Biofuels Alliance is likely to get a go-ahead at the G20 Summit beginning today in New Delhi, sources said, further indicating that the new group may be launched on Saturday (September 9) to assist in the acceleration of energy transition.
The G20 world leaders are likely to pose for a group photo on the first day of the Summit today after it begins at Bharat Mandapam, the venue for the two-day summit, sources said.
The Global Biofuels Alliance, which the world's third biggest oil consumer wants to push during its G20 presidency, mirrors the International Solar Alliance (ISA) piloted by New Delhi and Paris in 2015 to bring clean and affordable solar energy within the reach of all.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an interview that India’s proposal for a global alliance on biofuels will help accelerate sustainable biofuels deployment in support of the global energy transition.
"Such alliances are aimed at creating options for developing countries to advance their energy transitions," PM Modi had said.
"Biofuels are also important from the perspective of a circular economy. Markets, trade, technology, and policy – all aspects of international cooperation are crucial in creating such opportunities," the Prime Minister had added. Biofuel is a renewable source of energy which is derived from biomass.
India imports over 85 per cent of its crude oil needs and is slowly boosting its building capacity to produce fuel from items including crop stubble, plant waste and municipal solid waste.
While India is on schedule to double the mixing of ethanol extracted from sugarcane and agriculture waste to 20 per cent with petrol by 2025, dozens of compressed biogas (CBG) plants are being set up.
The Global Biofuels Alliance is aimed at facilitating cooperation and intensifying the use of sustainable biofuels, including in the transportation sector.
The alliance’s focus is mainly on strengthening markets, facilitating global biofuel trade, developing concrete policy lesson-sharing and providing technical support for national biofuel programmes worldwide.
Such an initiative is also aimed at helping India's transition to alternative fuels and cutting its import bill, as it seeks to achieve its net zero carbon emissions goal by 2070.
The two-day G20 Summit will begin today.
(With PTI inputs)
