Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi and said that it marks a “watershed moment” in the quest towards sustainability and clean energy.
Here are 10 facts about the Global Biofuels Alliance:
- The Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) is an India-led initiative to develop an alliance of Governments, International organizations and Industry to facilitate adoption of biofuels.
- As many as 19 countries, including seven G20 nations — India, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Italy, South Africa and the US — and 12 international organisations have already agreed to join the GBA.
- Bringing together the biggest consumers and producers of biofuels to drive biofuels development and deployment, the GBA aims to position biofuels as a key to energy transition and contribute to jobs and economic growth.
- GBA 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.
- The Global Biofuels Alliance will 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.
- The Alliance will also facilitate development, adoption and implementation of internationally recognized standards, codes, sustainability principles and regulations to incentivize biofuels adoption and trade.
- The GBA will also help strengthen India’s position globally as the alliance will focus on collaboration and will provide additional opportunities to Indian industries in the form of exporting technology and exporting equipment.
- This new initiative will help accelerate India’s existing biofuels programs such as PM-JIVANYojna, SATAT, and GOBARdhan scheme, thereby contributing to increased farmers’ income, creating jobs and overall development of the Indian ecosystem.
- Bangladesh, Singapore, Mauritius, UAE, Iceland, Kenya, Guyana, Paraguay, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Finland have also agreed to be initiating members of the GBA.
- International organizations like 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, and World Biogas Association will also be the part of the Global Biofuels Alliance.