Biofuels policy announced

The Indian national policy on bio-fuels and its implementation has been approved by the Union Cabinet. The Policy endeavors to facilitate and bring about optimal development and utilization of indigenous biomass feedstocks for production of bio-fuels, says an official press release. The Policy can be visited at the Ministry’s Website www.mnre.gov.in.

Some of the features of the National Policy on Bio-fuels are:-
· Bio-diesel production will be taken up from non-edible oil seeds in waste /degraded / marginal lands.
· An indicative target of 20% blending of bio-fuels, both for bio-diesel and bio-ethanol, by 2017 has been proposed.
· Minimum Support Price (MSP) for non-edible oil seeds would be announced with periodic revision to provide fair price to the growers.
· Minimum Purchase Price (MPP) for purchase of bio-ethanol and bio-diesel would be announced with periodic revision.
· Major thrust will be given to research, development and demonstration with focus on plantations, processing and production of bio-fuels, including Second Generation Bio-fuels.
· Financial incentives, including subsidies and grants, may be considered for second generation bio-fuels. If it becomes necessary, a National Bio-fuel Fund could be considered.

The Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has taken several initiatives on various aspects of biofuel development. An exercise has been initiated on collection, screening and identification of elite germplasms of jatropha and on processing and end use technologies. The scientific agencies and the private sector have identified 25 superior genotypes/accessions of jatropha for further multiplication for demonstration at various sites in potential States.

Another exercise has been taken up on realistic costing of biodiesel which will provide guidance on review and revision of the purchase price for biodiesel. A survey has been undertaken to assess the status of Jatropha plantations in nine States.

A welcome move to have a policy in place, but the question that begs an answer is why this fixation on jatropha when there are so many native species which are more hardy and yield more?

Are we ready to take on the challenge posed by biofuels knowing the dangers of commercialization? Also, the carbon emissions aspect is still unclear. Do they reduce carbon emissions when the whole lifecycle is taken into account? Do they negatively affect the habitat of many species? Are they more energy consuming than producing?

A report published by a group of environmental organisations including Transport & Environment, Oxfam International and Friends of the Earth Europe raises fresh doubts that biofuels could cause more environmental harm than good.

The central issue is that of the impact of indirect land use change (ILUC), where agricultural land is turned over to biofuel feedstock and land elsewhere is converted to agriculture, on the greenhouse gas emissions of biofuels.

According to the report, Biofuels: Handle with Care, many international policies and legislation do not take ILUC sufficiently into account, which could mean that biofuels are releasing more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than thought.

Is it too soon to take the leap into large scale production?