Despite the clear advantages in terms of air pollution, security of supply and availability that biofuels have over petroleum fuels, India and the South and South-East Asian countries are still largely dependent on oil producing nations to meet the energy demand of the transport sector. The biofuels industry suffers from an absence of a firm policy framework. The project aims at facilitating government officials and other stakeholders through strategic capacity building and appropriate technology partnerships with the European Union (EU).

The overall objective of the project is to promote the use of biofuels in India and neighboring countries. For this, both production of biomass for biofuels should be increased and demand for biofuels encouraged. The barriers to the use of biofuels are still substantial: there is no financing mechanism in place; awareness in the transportation sector of this clean technology is low; and the best technologies are not always available to Indian companies. On the biomass supply side, the Indian agricultural sector has a lengthy experience with biomass production and increasing the demand for biofuels would have positive economic implications for this sector.

However, there are policy barriers to be overcome as well. In order to meet the objectives mentioned above, this project aims to raise awareness and develop adequate capacity in India and the neighboring countries to increase use of biofuels in order to improve local environmental conditions and promote sustainable investment. Co-operation between India and the EU is a specific aim of the project, as it would encourage both technology transfer and investment flows. The activities in this project include a study focusing on policy related issues, key barriers, regulatory and institutional issues, and environmental impacts. It also includes capacity building for government officers and other stakeholders through workshops; appropriate technology partnerships with EU countries through information exchange; study tours, and production of information dissemination material.
Achievements

• Winrock International India identified partners from Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Maldives who contributed to various activities of the project.
• The draft Study report on biofuels has been submitted to European Commission for review.
• The first working conference was organized in New Delhi in July 2006.
• The second working conference was organized in Newcastle on the sidelines of the 5th European Motor Biofuels Forum (September 9 – 11, 2006)
• A study tour was organized comprising of 10 government officials from India to visit biofuels industry in Europe and meet various stakeholders.
• A web site www.probios.org has been developed as part of the project.
• Four issues of the Biofuels newsletter have been published.
• Four regional workshops on biofuels have been organized to sensitize all the relevant stakeholders. Programs have been organized in the states of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Proceedings are available on www.probios.org
• Two regional workshops have been organized in Sri Lanka and Thailand to sensitize stakeholders on the importance of biofuels for the country.

More details on the project are available on the project website www.probios.org.