The Biggest Thing Anywhere Ever? The Story behind the Global Biofuels Alliance

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... What’s missing? The financial industry and investors in general. An actual scope of work. A leadership team. None of those impossible to produce, but none of those (yet) done — so, consider the Alliance to be a work in progress, for sure, and make some allowances when it comes to timelines and scope.

Look Southward, Pard’ner

One way to look at this announcement is to see India, using its presidency of the G20 this year as a platform to launch this initiative — if the line-up of nations was less than the G20, if the scope of work is still a little fuzzy, never mind. Brazil has the presidency of the G20 next year, it’ll be their job to add more members and definition. It’s tempting to see India-US-Brazil and focus on India-US or the US alone.

The Global South has an awful lot of biomass, lacks the infrastructure to execute decarbonization via “electrify everything”, would like to build export markets to improve farm income, and wants this sector to thrive. Brazil couldn’t agree more. The US has been divided, Europe has been unhelpful at the Brussels policy level even if terrific in the technology arena. Despite an underwhelming response when India first floated the outline of this Alliance within the G20 community some time ago, and the obvious absence of meaningful support from Europe (excepting Italy, Finland and Iceland), they’ve decided with the Brazilians to go forward, for years if necessary, if necessary, alone.

The BRICS

Absent from the G20 stage were Russia’s President Putin and China’s President Xi, who joined the other members of the BRICS alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), in announcing last month that they are increasing their group to a total of twelve members with the adds of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates. Applications have been received from 14 other nations, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Thailand and Vietnam. A number of African nations plus Turkey and Syria are reported to be interested in this attempt, frankly, to create a rival to the G20 and shift more voice to the Global South in the global dialogue — with China and Russia merrily encouraging this rival to North American-European hegemony in world affairs, and using an accidental association to effect it. After all, BRIC is an acronym coined by a Goldman Sachs analyst, it just happened to become useful.

Not every nation in the BRICS is a nation that aims at destroying the G20. Some things are easier to do within the G20, such as this Alliance. What does Russia care about biofuels? And, lately, what does China?

A bidding war has emerged for India’s friendship, the Global Biofuels Alliance being table stakes for the United States in its long-term aim to replace China with India as its major US trading partner in that region of the world.

Why Jelly in Delhi?

Yes, the US has a long-standing interest in bioenergy R&D, and deep investments, but the US Trade Representative office would be queasy at the idea of subjecting US trade policy to a “virtual marketplace” in biomass operated by a political organization. After all, the US is still deeply divided over Obamacare and single-payer medical insurance. It wasn’t so many years ago that critics of ethanol dubbed it “Government Gas”. Government exchanges, mandates, private players controlled by a government regulator? Get out the Obamacare playbook, please.

An actual, vibrant international development agency for agriculture-based energy is something the US went to some lengths to discourage in the heyday of the the old Global BioEnergy Partnership, known as GBEP.

Climate is more urgent, yes. But, with bioeconomy deployment the Biden Administration has been decisive in its indecision, committed to non-commitment — one footsie in to placate the heartland, one footsie out to placate the “electrify everything” crowd. For the Great Invertebrates of Washington DC, an Alliance made of jelly might be just the recipe.

What changed?

What’s really changed is not US attitude, but the global set-up. The world is not an American-European stage — hasn’t been for a while, but less so now than ever, excepting for the power of a revived NATO to redefine the conflicts on the eastern side of Europe.

The Middle East? They’re joining the BRICS in droves. And, you have to say, you wonder how we could possibly live in a world where the Emirates are joining the Global Biofuels Alliance at the outset, and no France. Iceland but no Germany, Singapore but no Malaysia, Bangladesh but no Thailand.

It’s interesting, the Emirates. Yes, they’re joining a lot of initiatives, they have a massive sovereign wealth fund and can see the headwinds that will come from the reliance on oil. HQ’ing this Alliance in Dubai might send the very signal that the world has shifted south, decisively, that the global bioeconomy needs.

Calling in the Coordinates

Futuria Fuels CEO Rebecca Groen (Futuria is the dedicated business unit within SHV Energy for renewable liquid gas development)) said that Futuria aims to play a key role in this initiative, and commented:

BREAKING NEWS! Yesterday the much-anticipated Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) was launched at the G20 Summit in India. The platform will bring in synergies between G20 nations, international associations and industrial partners for sustainable biofuels production, trans-national energy financing, technology partnerships as well as developing appropriate policy and legal frameworks.

That’s a terrific summary of the ambition, that “what might the Alliance be one-day”. We’ll see whether this government-led, government-run Alliance will be able to nimbly foster trans-national energy financing and so forth. I have long suspected, since first getting word of the Alliance, that the organization needs a counter-party based in industry, think of the Alliance as a big, bright green piece of powerful artillery that needs some grunts in the field to call in the coordinates.