Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that India has achieved the target of 10% ethanol blending in petrol, five months ahead of schedule. This is up from 1.5% in 2014, he said.
“Achieving this goal has three clear benefits: first, it has reduced carbon emissions by 2.7 million tonnes; second, it has saved foreign exchange value. 41,000 crore and; Third, the farmers of the country have earned 40,600 crore due to increase in ethanol blending in the last eight years,” Modi told the ‘Save the Soil’ program on World Environment Day.
The center promotes the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) program with the aim of enhancing energy security, reducing import dependence on fuel, saving foreign exchange, addressing environmental issues and promoting agriculture. The ‘National Policy on Biofuels’ notified by the government in 2018 envisages an indicative target of 20% ethanol blending in petrol by 2030.
Considering the encouraging performance and various interventions made by the government since 2014, the 20% target was increased to 2025-26.
The “Roadmap for Ethanol Blending in India 2020-25” released in June 2021 mentions the intermediate milestone of 10% blending by November 2022.
“However, due to the coordinated efforts of the Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), the target of 10% blending under the program has been achieved much ahead of the target date of November, 2022, in which the Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies have Got an average of 10. % Ethanol blending in petrol across the country,” said the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
“With all the initiatives taken by the government, the EBP program is on track to achieve the target of 20% blending by 2025-26,” it added.
In his remarks, Modi said India has achieved the target of achieving 40% of installed power generation capacity from non-fossil fuels nine years ahead of schedule. The 18-fold increase in solar power capacity and policies related to the Green Hydrogen Mission and the circular economy, and scrappage were examples of the government’s commitment to protecting the environment.
“The average carbon footprint of the world is around 4 tonnes per person per year compared to about 0.5 tonnes per person per year in India. The country is working on a long-term approach in collaboration with the international community to protect the environment.
He said that campaigns like ‘Catch the Rain’ have helped connect people across the country. The campaign to conserve 13 major rivers was launched in March 2022. In this, along with reducing pollution in the water, work is being done to plant forests on the banks of rivers.
“It is estimated that this will add 7,400 sq km of forest area, which will increase the forest area of 20,000 sq km in India in the last eight years,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister said that natural farming provides solutions to some big problems. He said that in the Union Budget of FY 2013, the government has decided to promote natural farming in the villages situated on the banks of Ganga, which will create a huge corridor of natural farming.
This will not only make our farms chemical free but will also give new strength to the Namami Gange campaign. India is working on a target of restoring 26 million hectares of land by 2030.