Biofuels alliance eyes more members

India-backed Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) is looking for more countries to join it from South-east Asia and Africa after the Philippines and Tanzania became the latest entrants.

The move is strategically significant as it is expected to give India an upper hand over China which has interests in both South East Asian and Africa and has been opposed to joining the alliance.

The alliance launched on 9 September on the sidelines of the G20 Leadership Summit was initially conceptualized with a view to getting all G20 members on board. However, big hitters China, Russia and Saudi Arabia have so far stayed out.

Russia and Saudi Arabia are key crude oil producers and biofuels are an alternative to crude. Several European countries have also refrained from joining—concerns have mounted in the past several years over deforestation caused by key source plants such as palm and soy.

“The membership has now reached 21 countries. There is good representation from Latin America and North America. GBA will now look at some more countries in South-east Asia and Africa,” said a person aware of the development.

With the Philippines and Tanzania, the alliance now has 21 members —seven G20 countries, four G20 invitee countries and 10 non-G20 countries. Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India, Italy, South Africa and the US are the G20 member countries, while the G20 invitees are Bangladesh, Singapore, Mauritius and the UAE.

Apart from the Philippines and Tanzania, the non-G20 countries are Iceland, Kenya, Guyana, Paraguay, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Finland.

Another person said that India, which has spearheaded the formation and membership process of the alliance, is now looking at setting up a temporary executive committee with representation from every member country to look at the operations of the alliance and start off with a new membership process.

“The membership of GBA is interest-based. Any country showing interest to join the alliance can sign up and become a member. The committee after its formation, may look at the prerequisites for becoming a member and also frame up a process for membership application,” said the second person.

The GBA is made up of governments, international organizations and industries. An initiative by India as the G20 president, it brings together the biggest consumers and producers of biofuels to drive development and deployment of biofuels.

In an interview, union minister for petroleum and natural gas Hardeep Singh Puri said that the recently launched alliance will work on the definition and specification of biofuels, and also increase international cooperation through a virtual marketplace.

Recently, he had said that an event here that the global biofuels market is set to jump from its current value of $92 billion to $200 billion post the launch of the alliance.