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The Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA), which is backed by the US, Brazil and India, will be opened up for membership from other countries on July 22 during the G20’s Energy Transition Ministerial Meeting (ETMM) in Goa, Oil Minister H S Puri said on Tuesday.
“I am pleased to share that GBA will be opened up for membership on July 22, 2023 at Goa. This will be a landmark event in the history of the global energy market and has huge potential on the lines of OPEC,” Puri said in his address at an event on accelerating progress on Sustainable Development Goals and global biofuel.
India, the US and Brazil account for a total of 85 per cent of the global ethanol production with the US holding 55 per cent share followed by Brazil (27 per cent) and India (3 per cent), he added.
“When I was posted in Brazil from 2006-2012, it was suggested to me by UNICA (Brazilian sugar industry association) that if India and Brazil can come together, it can become a competition to the OPEC. I always envisaged the potential of ethanol as a global commodity in energy markets,” the Minister said.
Besides the ETMM, Goa will also host the 4th G20 Energy Transition Working Group (ETWG) meeting from July 18-20.
GBA membership
Puri informed that membership to the alliance is also open for interested countries beyond G-20 as well.
The GBA will also be a competent organisation which will set technical standards for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) business in collaboration with relevant industry bodies, he added.
The GBA will be having a three-category membership structure bringing together member countries, partner organizations and industries.
The alliance will work towards enhancing global collaboration and cooperation for accelerated adoption of biofuels by identifying global best practices for the development and deployment of sustainable biofuels and bio-products, the minister said.
Puri emphasised that there is an urgent need to have a global platform which can address the underlying challenges and enable wider international cooperation to realise the huge untapped potential of sustainable biofuels to cater to common global goods of climate change mitigation through reduced carbon emissions and achieving sustainable development goals.
“We are working on the development of the GBA along with interested countries aimed at facilitating cooperation and intensifying the use of sustainable biofuels,” he added.
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