India-Proposed Global Biofuels Alliance Launched With 19 Countries and 12 Organisations

The Global Biofuels Alliance, formally launched at India's G20 Summit in Delhi on 9 September 2023, aims to establish robust global biofuel markets by facilitating trade, sharing policy lessons and standardising sustainability frameworks. IEEFA analysis calls on the alliance to prioritise second-generation biofuels, enforce rigorous life cycle assessments and engage private sector participants to build a commercially viable and environmentally sound market.

The GBA was proposed by India and launched alongside leaders from Singapore, Bangladesh, Italy, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Mauritius and the UAE, with 19 countries and 12 international organisations signing on. The alliance is designed to serve as an expert hub and catalytic platform for global biofuel trade and policy exchange. Biofuels — particularly biogas derived from press mud, animal waste, crop residue and municipal waste — offer a potential pathway for countries dependent on fossil fuel imports to reduce energy insecurity in the near term. India, which imports significant quantities of fossil fuels, stands among the key beneficiaries.

IEEFA identifies priority areas the GBA must address to fulfil its mandate without exacerbating environmental damage. Standard-setting across the biofuels value chain — including feedstock guidelines, conversion technology standards and emission leak containment — is essential. The alliance must also mandate complete life cycle assessments to ensure biofuels genuinely reduce carbon emissions rather than redistributing them through land use change. The IEA identifies three priority areas aligned with the GBA's work: developing high-potential markets, accelerating technology deployment and establishing performance-based sustainability assessments.

IEEFA emphasises the importance of second-generation biofuels — derived from agriculture, municipal, animal waste, used cooking oil and wastewater — to avoid the food versus fuel conflicts associated with first-generation ethanol and biodiesel. The GBA should build on the frameworks of existing bodies, including the Global Bioenergy Partnership with its 80 members and the 23-country Clean Energy Ministerial Biofuture Platform. Country-level feedstock assessments, potentially modelled and supported by the GBA, are needed to map available waste resources to viable biofuel production opportunities.

Key figure — 19 countries and 12 international organisations — founding membership of the Global Biofuels Alliance at launch