Global Biofuels Alliance At COP28 Lacked Vibrancy, More Needs To Be Done

A casual visit to the GBA booth at Expo City Dubai, the COP28 venue, offers only a glimpse of what the Global Biofuels Alliance is about and what it aims to achieve. As 22 flags of its members fly with pride, the booth showcases models of India’s second-generation (2G) ethanol technology and quotes of world leaders pointing out the growth potential for biofuels. A “spectacular display” on the Burj Khalifa in Dubai also spotlighted the presence of GBA at COP28.

As a concept, biofuels bring a lot of benefits. One of them is their distinctive ability to transform farmers from being only food producers to fuel producers. The impact is already seen in India. The sugarcane farmers, who ensured 80 per cent of the country’s bioethanol supply, saw a 46 per cent rise in their income.

At a time when energy independence has become a major strategic issue for most countries, biofuels offer a way to reduce oil dependency, especially for the largely agri-based Global South. With founding partners like the US, Brazil and India, the momentum certainly is in favour of the Global Biofuels Alliance.

However, is the alliance capitalising on it?

India And GBA

The Secretariat of the GBA currently rests with India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG). The irony of this is only limited by the fact that MoP&NG is the main buyer of biofuels in India and, therefore, is considered to have the largest stake and understanding of the subject.

It was expected that the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, or his secretary Pankaj Jain, the acting DG for the alliance, would attend the discussions at COP28, but neither were able to. They joined one stakeholder consultation virtually.

A prominent global industry stakeholder, who wished to remain anonymous, came out of the closed-door consultation rueing that most people were only interested in showcasing their individual organisations and the discussion remained limited to a barrage of problems that the industry faces in advancing their respective causes but no constructive solution or consensus was achieved.

Another major biofuels player highlighted the need for the government to take up the leadership in setting the agenda and roadmap for the alliance’s future.

COP is the largest conference on climate change in the world. It presents an unparalleled opportunity for forging alliances and stimulating discussions to build momentum towards constructive solutions for parrying with climate change. A lack of engagement is concerning. It points out to deeper structural problems of the Indian bureaucracy in engaging at multilateral forums.

A good place for the GBA to start would be to set out a few milestones. These can be as simple as increasing the amount of global biofuel supply, finding lucrative trade opportunities and an extensive capacity building plan for countries. All of this can come by engaging with industries and policymakers and leveraging opportunities like COP.

An example of successful engagement is the International Solar Alliance, which is also backed by India. With surprisingly limited financial support, the ISA under the leadership of Ajay Mathur, a former Director General of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, has won the battle of visibility with a much higher participation rate and has a clear roadmap for future.

Activities focussing on youth engagement and capacity-building have added depth and credibility to ISA, although its larger goal of ‘One Sun, One Grid’ is still a work-in-progress. The GBA has its work cut for itself.

The Challenges

The initial stage of biofuels development was criticised for its change of land use patterns and the industry having a direct impact on food security. For example, the diversion of Food Corporation of India grains for bio-ethanol production has already upset the market. Besides, the climate-related disasters are reducing agriculture yields, threatening India’s blending mandates for the year.

However, the evolving technology may allow us to use agri feedstock to produce bioenergy. The use of stubbles, for instance, would not only provide us a reliable source of energy but also combat the problem of air pollution. Transparency and technology advancements would be key to the success of the Global Biofuels Alliance.

Another factor critical to its success is inter-ministerial support and communication. Biofuels is a cross-cutting sector involving not just the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas but also the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ministry of Power and the Ministry of External Affairs. A better coordination among them might have led to a greater engagement with world stakeholders at COP28.

Overall, it’s still days early to define the trajectory of the GBA, but COP28 was certainly its first litmus test in creating a buzz beyond the home ground. It is important that critical lessons are learnt and a feasible plan is set for the future to make GBA more appealing to others.

(Sankalp Suman is visiting COP28 in Dubai as part of the IndiaInternational Youth Climate Delegate Program from India)