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UAE is a member of the newly established Global Biofuels Alliance: The UAE has officially joined the newly launched Global Biofuels Alliance founded by India, the UK, and the US, according to a statement. The alliance — formed on Saturday during the G20 Clean Energy Ministerial Meeting — aims to “accelerate sustainable biofuels deployment in support of the global energy transition,” according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). The formal launch of the Global Biofuels Alliance is scheduled to take place at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi next September.
Others want to follow in the UAE’s footsteps: Nineteen countries expressed their interest in being part of the alliance’s initiating members, the Times of India reported, without disclosing the country names. Over a dozen countries participated at the ministerial meeting, including Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, India, Italy, Kenya, Mauritius, Paraguay, Seychelles, the UAE, Uganda, and the US, according to the IEA.
The IEA suggests three priority areas for the new alliance: The IEA published a report (pdf) offering insights for the Global Biofuel Alliance by analyzing biofuel policy insights from Brazil, India and the US. The report suggests the alliance focus on three priority areas: identifying and helping develop markets with high potential for sustainable biofuels production, accelerating technology deployment, and seeking consensus on performance-based sustainability assessments and frameworks.
Why have biofuels been sidelined in the energy transition? The IEA estimates that global sustainable biofuels production would need to triple by 2030 to meet global net zero emission goals by 2050. Biofuel roll out has been constrained by challenges such as the availability of the feedstock used to make biofuels, the lack of consensus on sustainability criteria, and the pace at which related technology has been commercialized, it added. Production capacities could be expanded through designing long-term strategies, fostering investment, supporting innovation, securing affordable supplies, and encouraging collaboration from international partners.
UAE’s interest in biofuels is on the rise: Earlier this month, BP invested USD 10 mn in US startup WasteFuel to support its establishment of a UAE-based biofuels plant with a capacity of 100k barrels of the green fuel per day. UAE’s Tadweer signed an agreement with Austria-based integrated oil and gas company OMV to explore investments in biofuels and biowaste production. Last year, the UAE’s Circular Economy Council inaugurated Dubai-based Lootah Biofuels’ cooking oil reprocessing plant with a capacity of 100 tons per day.
