India applied the finishing touches to its presidency of the G-20 in great style over the weekend at the grouping’s annual summit hosted by it with panache over three days in Delhi. A key takeaway in the climate change space was Prime Minister Narendra Modi grasping the opportunity to burnish India’s leadership with the launch of the Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA). Aimed at supporting sustainable biofuel development and deployment, the objective of the initiative is to unite the world’s largest biofuel consumers and producers, and 19 countries and 12 international organisations already committed to the GBA. The idea behind the long-awaited alliance is to facilitate the adoption of biofuels, thereby unlocking bioenergy access in emerging economies. Biofuels play a critical role in decarbonising transport by providing a low-cost solution. Carbon emissions from the biofuel production process emit a stream of high CO2 concentration, which avoids need for further purification.

In 2022, biofuels reduced nearly four per cent of global oil use for road transport. But due to elevated costs, source material worries, and implementation hurdles, global biofuel growth rate is half of what it must be to help achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Indian government policies have for the past few years been focussed on increasing the country’s production capacity of biofuels, which is a renewable energy source produced from organic matter. The GBA is designed as a platform for collaboration between governments, multilateral organisations, industry, and other key stakeholders. Three members of the alliance ~ the USA, Brazil, and India account for nearly 85 per cent share in biofuel production and 81 per cent of consumption of ethanol. As all three countries are leading members of G-20, it is expected that designing long-term stratgies, boosting investment, and ensuring supply chain feasibility by working collaboratively will provide a fillip to the sustainable energy transition.

The global ethanol market was valued at $99.06 billion in 2022 and is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 5.1 per cent by 2032 to surpass $162.12 billion by 2032. The GBA will facilitate capacity building by establishing a virtual marketplace, and enabling industry players to better understand demand-supply dynamics, say experts. It will also provide technical support to national biofuel programs and assist standardisation and regulation to encourage scalable adoption and trade of biofuels. Indian industry sees unfolding of new business opportunities in the bio-energy sector through the alliance, which will also serve to help work towards the twin national goals of promoting low-carbon energy and a reduction in import dependency.

In 2009, developed countries had pledged to pro- vide $100 billion per year by 2020 to help developing countries combat climate change, a promise that remained unfulfilled. The fact the launch of the Global Biofuels Alliance came during India’s presidency of the G-20 is significant. Given India is the world’s third-largest oil consumer, Mr. Modi’s call to set a global target of blending 20 per cent ethanol with petrol could be a geoeconomic ~ and by implication geopolitical gamechanger. It is truly the icing on the Prime Minister’s eminently palatable G-20 cake.